Piazza Grande, Montepulciano

This is the top of Montepulciano — the square constitutes the highest point of the town — so arriving here is the reward for a climb that starts at the gate and does not let up.

It is also the best square in southern Tuscany, and it earns that by what encloses it: the cathedral, the Palazzo Comunale designed by Michelozzo, palazzo Contucci, palazzo Nobili-Tarugi and the palazzo del Capitano, set as five compact blocks around a roughly quadrangular space. In the widening beside Nobili-Tarugi stands a well designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder while he was working in the city.

And it has an unusually exact legal history. The statutes of 1337 fixed its boundaries and its uses, made crimes committed in the square punishable more severely than elsewhere, and record a column where those sentenced to the pillory were exposed. This was not a decorative space; it was a jurisdiction.

The friction is the climb, which is the hardest of these five towns. Nothing else — the square is free, never closes, and the town hall is still at number 1.

Treat it as the town's square, not a viewpoint. The Comune is at number 1 and this is where Montepulciano does its public business. Groups regathering in the middle of it, or spread across the entrance to the town hall, are standing in a working civic space.

Do not sit or climb on Sangallo's well. It stands free in the widening beside palazzo Nobili-Tarugi with no barrier and no attendant, it was designed by the architect of San Biagio, and it is the only free-standing object in the square — which makes it the most photographed and the most climbed-on thing here.

Come at the edges of the day. This is both the kindest thing for the square and much the best for you: the climb is punishing in the middle of a summer day and the piazza is at its emptiest and most atmospheric early and late.

Spend on the square and in the cellars under it. Palazzo Contucci has a historic cellar beneath it, and several more are cut into the rock under the main street. Buying Vino Nobile from a cellar in the town puts the money with the grower and needs no car — the one practical advantage Montepulciano has over Montalcino.

During the Bravio, stand where you are directed. On the last Sunday of August heavy barrels are pushed uphill into this square by teams competing hard. Keep children off the course and do not step out to photograph.

Remember the palaces are addresses. Contucci, Nobili-Tarugi and the palazzo del Capitano are private and working buildings, not exhibits with open doors.

Piazza Grande is a public square: no gate, no operator, no ticket, no closing time. Everything described on this page can be seen for nothing, at any hour, and the best hours are early and late.

The one operational fact that belongs to the square

The Comune di Montepulciano is still on it, at Piazza Grande 1, with a single switchboard on 0578 7121. That is the number to call for anything in the town whose hours you cannot find published — and the town hall being on the square is part of why the space is still civic rather than ornamental.

An honest gap about the museum

Montepulciano has a civic museum with a picture collection, and this page gives no hours or prices for it because its own website answered 403 from every path tried when this was written. We do not publish operational details from anywhere other than the operator. Ask at the municipality.

What to do standing here

Walk the perimeter before you sit down. Five buildings enclose the square and they are all worth a minute: the cathedral with its unfinished façade and the bell tower that is all that survives of the older pieve; Michelozzo's Palazzo Comunale; palazzo Contucci; palazzo Nobili-Tarugi; and the palazzo del Capitano. Then find Sangallo's well in the widening beside Nobili-Tarugi.

Getting up here

On foot, uphill, the whole way. The square is the highest point of the town and Montepulciano is a single sustained climb from the gate with no level alternative — the hardest walking of the five Tuscan hill towns in this group. Small local shuttle buses work the main street, and using one uphill costs nothing in experience. In July and August, come before 09:00 or after 18:00.

Early morning or the evening, in late spring or autumn. The square is free and never closes, so the only thing to optimise is light and crowd — and the climb.

Late May, June and September to October are the best windows: long evenings on the square, warm but not punishing, and the cellars beneath the palaces unhurried.

July and August: the timing matters more here than anywhere in the town, because reaching this square means a sustained stone climb with little shade. Go up before 09:00 or after 18:00. The square itself is pleasant in the evening even in August.

The last Sunday of August is the Bravio delle Botti, run on that day since the 14th century: the town's contrade push barrels uphill to this square. The piazza is the finish line and the town is completely full. Book months ahead or come another week.

November to March is cold and windy on a 605-metre ridge, and very quiet. Low winter light across the cathedral's bare brick is the best the unfinished façade ever looks.