A green secret in the medieval heart
There is something almost magical in knowing that within the walls of Siena, among the alleys and medieval buildings, almost 29.5 hectares of green are hidden: valleys, basins, gardens, and orchards that represent about 18% of the internal area of the historic center. They are not random empty spaces, nor are they urban planning oversights. They are the direct result of the expansions of the city walls: when the walls were widened to incorporate water sources, strategic areas, or spaces intended for a future development that never occurred, these valleys remained free, suspended between the built city and the stone of the walls.
They almost always take the shape of a basin or valley, nestled between two ridges, and still today they host gardens, orchards, patches of spontaneous vegetation, and drainage ditches that tell the story of an agricultural landscape that has survived in the heart of a medieval city. Among the main ones: the Conca del Bruco, the Valle di Follonica, the Valle della Pania, the Valle di Porta Giustizia, the Valle dell'Orto Botanico, the Conca di San Marco-Laterino, the Valle di Sant'Ansano, and the Conca del Rastrello.
Two valleys not to be missed
The Conca del Bruco is a compact space of about 6,000 square meters, squeezed between the back of the buildings on Via del Comune, the walls, and the Basilica of San Francesco: today it is almost entirely linked to the life of the Contrada del Bruco, which has made it its own over time, transforming it into a corner of contrada identity hidden from the eyes of almost everyone.
The Valle di Follonica, on the other hand, is one of the widest: it stretches between the convent of San Francesco, the 15th-century walls, and the back of the buildings on Via Sallustio Bandini, shared between Giraffa and Leocorno. Here, recently brought to light, is also the Fonte di Follonica: medieval water that flowed beneath the city and that someone wanted to restore to memory.
Come get lost in the green
Together, these valleys constitute one of the most original landscape heritages in Italy: nature and history coexist effortlessly, within a city that has never stopped being itself.