Description
Piazza Salimbeni looks like a medieval square, with three old palaces closing it off like a drawing room. In fact it is a 19th-century project: the stage for the Neo-Gothic Palazzo Salimbeni, seat of the Monte dei Paschi, and for the bank's offices.
You enter from Via Banchi di Sopra, the only way in. At the far end is the Palazzo Salimbeni, with its 14th-century facade rebuilt in Neo-Gothic style: triple-light windows under pointed arches, battlements and blind arches, as in the Palazzo Pubblico.
On the left stands the Palazzo Tantucci, designed in the mid-16th century by Il Riccio. On the right the Palazzo Spannocchi, 15th-century (1470) and designed by Giuliano da Maiano.
In the middle rises the statue of Sallustio Bandini, a Sienese economist, by Tito Sarrocchi, from 1882.
Before, there was no real square. There was the Costa Salimbeni, a narrow, steep slope that started from Via Montanini and ran along Palazzo Tantucci on one side and the Spannocchi's back premises on the other.
In 1875 the architect Giuseppe Partini was called in to find a solution: demolish the terrace next to Palazzo Spannocchi and arrange the space thus gained. The completion of the Gothic front of the Rocca Salimbeni made the need for a new architectural setting obvious.
In 1877 the Deputazione of the Monte dei Paschi approved the project for a new square, closed on three sides by three palaces, and work began. The three buildings were remodeled and restored by Partini, who gave the whole square its present look.
The Monte dei Paschi, whose name alludes to the Maremma pastures that guaranteed its loans, had bought the Salimbeni palace in 1866 to make it its head office. Today it has administrative and representative offices here.
The 20th century added further work, by Carlo Ariotti and Vittorio Mariani, on the side palaces too. The real Middle Ages are behind, in the brick rear facade on Via dell'Abbadia, between two mighty towers.
You enter from Via Banchi di Sopra, the only way in. At the far end is the Palazzo Salimbeni, with its 14th-century facade rebuilt in Neo-Gothic style: triple-light windows under pointed arches, battlements and blind arches, as in the Palazzo Pubblico.
On the left stands the Palazzo Tantucci, designed in the mid-16th century by Il Riccio. On the right the Palazzo Spannocchi, 15th-century (1470) and designed by Giuliano da Maiano.
In the middle rises the statue of Sallustio Bandini, a Sienese economist, by Tito Sarrocchi, from 1882.
Before, there was no real square. There was the Costa Salimbeni, a narrow, steep slope that started from Via Montanini and ran along Palazzo Tantucci on one side and the Spannocchi's back premises on the other.
In 1875 the architect Giuseppe Partini was called in to find a solution: demolish the terrace next to Palazzo Spannocchi and arrange the space thus gained. The completion of the Gothic front of the Rocca Salimbeni made the need for a new architectural setting obvious.
In 1877 the Deputazione of the Monte dei Paschi approved the project for a new square, closed on three sides by three palaces, and work began. The three buildings were remodeled and restored by Partini, who gave the whole square its present look.
The Monte dei Paschi, whose name alludes to the Maremma pastures that guaranteed its loans, had bought the Salimbeni palace in 1866 to make it its head office. Today it has administrative and representative offices here.
The 20th century added further work, by Carlo Ariotti and Vittorio Mariani, on the side palaces too. The real Middle Ages are behind, in the brick rear facade on Via dell'Abbadia, between two mighty towers.