"Ornato della città”: Siena’s Strada Romana as Focus of Fifteenth-century Urban Renewal

During the fifteenth century, urban policies aimed at renewing the architectural form of the Strada Romana, Siena’s main street. These policies transformed the street into a showpiece of civic values, by encouraging both state-subsidised minor improvements of private buildings, and facilitating patrons of more major projects along it. Such was the success of the renewal campaign that public, institutional and private patrons jostled for prominent sites along the Strada, developing varied and inventive solutions in order to extend the visual impact of their individual buildings’ facades on the street.