Siena, restoration site in the Hall of Good Government will open to the public with guided tours

From Dec. 1, 2022 to Jan. 31, 2023, the site for the restoration of theAllegory and Effects of Good and Bad Government in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico will open to the public, with special guided tours, as part of the initiatives organized by the City of Siena for the Christmas season Art Illuminates Christmas: in Siena between emotion and sustainability.

Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s masterpiece, created between 1338 and 1339, unfolds on the walls of the Sala della Pace and is among the greatest masterpieces of the Italian Middle Ages. Since March it has been the subject of a complex conservation maintenance project, promoted by the municipality with the high supervision of the Soprintendenza Archeologia e Belle Arti for the provinces of Siena, Grosseto and Arezzo.

An innovative scaffolding has been installed in the Hall of Peace: by raising the walking surface about two and a half meters from the floor level, it allows a direct 360-degree view of the paintings, and technicians and restorers a very accurate overall assessment. A construction site designed as a “place of knowledge” and the study of art from a privileged position.

After the diagnostic investigations and the beginning of the maintenance work behind closed doors, for two months it will be possible to safely access the scaffolding set up for the restoration and discover or rediscover the frescoes, with the opportunity to admire them up close and dwell on the details. To allow for a thorough visit and to maintain safety within the construction site, visits will be divided for limited groups of people accompanied by expert guides who, in addition to telling the history, content and significance of the work, will explain the ongoing restoration. For example, studies have shown that the cycle began to present critical issues very early on. In the second half of the 14th century, only a few decades after Ambrose’s death, there was already a first substantial integration on the corner between the Allegory of Good Government and the Effects of Good Government, due to the loss of the original plaster. The intervention is by the Sienese painter Andrea Vanni, and others by Girolamo di Benvenuto and Piero di Francesco degli Orioli are documented over the centuries.

The project is therefore intended to be educational and informative, bringing attention back to the theme of protecting and caring for the artistic heritage.

The restoration site

The phase of diagnostics and study of the frescoes, currently underway, focuses on thehistorical-archaeological investigation, with petrographic and chemical analysis, of the entire painted surface, for the evaluation of alteration factors: in their current state, the three walls present uneven conservation, resulting both from original conditions and from the various restorations, cuts, restorations and gaps that have occurred over time.

The preparation of the mapping of the deterioration of the surfaces (plaster detachments, dust deposits, cracks, etc.), by means of metric photographic survey and multispectral analysis, compared with the data of the historical documentation and in particular of the findings from previous restorations, is the indispensable basis for the protection actions that will constitute the next phase of the work.

The Municipality of Siena has launched the worksite in the Hall of Peace as the landing stage of the project of diagnostics, enhancement and conservative maintenance of Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s masterpiece, which began in 2021, availing itself of the advice of professionals in the field and, with the collaboration of the University of Siena, the Institute of Applied Physics “Nello Carrara” of the CNR of Florence and the SABAP Superintendence of Siena Grosseto and Arezzo in addition to the support of the Rotary Club Montaperti, San Casciano-Chianti, Siena, Siena Est and Inner Wheel.

Guided tour shifts

Daily at 10:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 12 noon, 2:45 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4:15 p.m.
Guided tours in English every Monday at 10.30 a.m., 11.15 a.m., 12 noon (December 25 closed, January 1 afternoon shifts)
Maximum 9 people per shift, duration about 30 minutes

Tickets
Euro 21 including admission to the Civic Museum / Euro 15 for residents
Tickets on sale from November 23, 2022
Purchase online at https://siena.b-ticket.com/ticketshop/webticket/timeslot?tsproduction=43
link Reservation via e-mail ticket@comune.siena.it (indicate number of participants, if residents of Siena, phone number, day of visit)
Phone reservation 0577 292614-15 (Monday through Friday h 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.)

Siena, restoration site in the Hall of Good Government will open to the public with guided tours

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