Alla Citta’Ritorna

Abstract The Palazzo Pubblico is one of Siena’s most impressive buildings. It dominates the Campo, the lovely fan-shaped piazza that lies at the city’s heart. For centuries, Sienese leaders convened inside its walls to deliberate the governance of the city. After the fall of the republic in 1555, when the magistracies that met there had little power, the Public Palace came to be exploited for a new purpose: entertainment. In 1560, on the occasion of Cosimo I de’ Medici’s first visit to his newly acquired dominion, the Great Counsel Hall (“Sala grande del Consiglio”) was transformed into a theater by the construction of a stage for performers and of galleries for an audience1. Eighty years later, Prince Mattias de’ Medici, then governor of Siena and a great fan of the new genre of opera, ordered the theater in the Public Palace renovated, possibly along the lines of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. In 1647, the refurbished venue served as the site of the first operatic performance in Siena. Among the attendees were the English tourists John Raymond and Robert Bargrave, who were especially taken with the elaborate scenery and the machines2. Despite the apparent success of the work, over twenty years would pass before another opera was mounted in Siena.