Piazza della Cisterna site features

The square is triangular, not rectangular, and it slopes gently — a natural fall in the ground rather than a designed terrace — so you are always walking slightly up or slightly down across it. It connects to Piazza del Duomo immediately to the north-west through an open passage rather than a street, so the two squares read as one linked space.

Underfoot the paving is brick laid in a herringbone pattern, and parts of it date from the 13th century. Slightly off the centre stands the well-head: a monumental piece of travertine on an octagonal pedestal, over the cistern of 1287 that gives the square its name and was enlarged in 1346. It is the one free-standing object in the space, and every photograph taken here is composed around it.

What makes the square extraordinary is the wall of building around all three sides, and it is worth taking in order.

At the southern end of the south-west side is the arco dei Becci, an old city gate from the first, high-medieval circuit of walls — so the square grew up around a gate that was already there. It is flanked by two massive, flat-sided tower blocks: the torre dei Becci on the left and the torre dei Cugnanesi on the right.

Moving round to the right, the buildings nearest the cistern are palazzo Razzi, Casa Salvestrini — formerly a hospital — and palazzo Tortoli, which stands beside a truncated tower that once belonged to the capitano del popolo. A tower cut off halfway is a common sight here and always means the same thing: height was political, and losing it was a penalty.

Past the opening into via di Castello, the northern side carries palazzo dei Cortesi and the torre del Diavolo, with the case dei Cattani alongside.

The western side is the one with the most towers: the twin torri degli Ardinghelli, a matched pair, and the torre di palazzo Pellari.

• The well-head (cistern 1287, enlarged 1346) — monumental travertine on an octagonal pedestal, set slightly off-centre, over the cistern that named the square; the enlargement was carried out under the podestà Guccio Malavolti.
• The herringbone brick paving — parts of it dating from the 13th century, the surface the market and the tournaments were held on.
• The arco dei Becci — a city gate from the first, high-medieval circuit of walls, standing at the southern end of the square: older than the square around it.
• The torri dei Becci and dei Cugnanesi — two massive flat-sided towers flanking that gate, the heaviest masonry on the square.
• The twin torri degli Ardinghelli — a matched pair on the western side, and the clearest surviving illustration of tower-building as a family statement.
• The torre del Diavolo — on the northern side, beside palazzo dei Cortesi and the case dei Cattani.
• The truncated tower of the capitano del popolo — cut off part-way up, beside palazzo Tortoli: a reminder that towers were reduced as well as raised.
• Casa Salvestrini — formerly a hospital, on the stretch nearest the cistern with palazzo Razzi and palazzo Tortoli.
• The open passage to Piazza del Duomo — not a street but a gap, which is why the two principal squares of the town work as a single connected space.