Walking Siena's Contrade: A Route Through All Seventeen

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You cannot see the contrade from the Campo. Siena's seventeen micro-nations live in the side streets — in fountains, plaques, flag brackets and museum doors — and the only way to understand the city's real map is to walk it. Here is a route through all seventeen, and the shorter versions for one, two or three hours.

Our guide to the seventeen contrade explains what they are — the identities, emblems, rivalries and the Palio that organises their year. This page is the other half: how to see them, on foot, in an afternoon.

How to read a street

Four things tell you whose ground you are on, and once you see them you cannot stop:

1. The fountain. Every contrada keeps its own fontanina, usually bearing its animal — the baptismal font of the community, where new contradaioli are baptised into membership. Finding all seventeen is the connoisseur's version of this walk.
2. The plaques and tiles. Boundary markers and emblem tiles at eye level and above doorways.
3. The flag brackets. Iron fittings on the palazzi, filled with silk in the days around each Palio and before each contrada's own festa.
4. The museum door. Each contrada keeps a museum of its banners and history — open by arrangement rather than ticket office; the protocol is in the main guide.

A note on manners: these are lived neighbourhoods, not exhibits. Walk them as you would hope visitors might walk your own street — the oratories especially.

The shape of the walk

Siena divides into three terzi — Città, San Martino and Camollia — and the honest way to walk the contrade is one terzo at a time, because the geography does the organising for you. The full circuit is a long, hilly afternoon; the terzo-by-terzo version is three separate strolls of about an hour each. The order below is ours, not anything official.

Terzo di Città — the southwest. Start at the Campo's top and work through the high streets around the Duomo and down the southwestern flanks. This terzo stacks its contrade close: the Eagle around the cathedral quarter, the Forest and the Panther on the western slopes, the Snail towards Porta San Marco, the Wave dropping south of the Campo, the Tortoise around Sant'Agostino. The descent to Fontebranda at the end delivers you to the Goose's ground — the contrada of St Catherine, whose family house sits inside its territory.

Terzo di San Martino — the southeast. From the Campo's lower lip, the Porrione leads into the terzo of the Tower and the Unicorn, with the Owl's compact ground tucked just north of them around its castellare; beyond, the Valdimontone's ridge climbs to Santa Maria dei Servi and the city's best look back at itself, with the Nicchio's streets running to Porta Pispini. This is the terzo for understanding rivalry at close quarters — Tower and Wave, whose grounds nearly touch, keep one of the city's storied enmities.

Terzo di Camollia — the north. The largest and least visited: the Goose on the Fontebranda slope, the Dragon around Piazza Matteotti, the She-Wolf towards Porta Ovile, the Porcupine along the Camollia spine, the Giraffe around Provenzano — whose collegiate church receives the July Drappellone — and the Caterpillar in the streets below San Francesco, with its proudly working-class history. End at San Francesco as the light goes.

The one-, two- and three-hour versions

• One hour: Terzo di Città only — the densest ground, six-plus contrade, ending at Fontebranda.
• Two hours: add San Martino, ending on the Servi steps at golden hour.
• Three hours or a full afternoon: the full seventeen, Camollia last, finishing at San Francesco — with the happy accident that the northern terzo's quiet is exactly right for the walk's end.

When to walk it

Any day works; some days sing. In the days before each Palio (early July, mid-August) the running contrade dress their streets in silk and the city's territorial map becomes visible from a hundred metres; around each contrada's own festa titolare, its quarter celebrates individually. After dark, the lit emblem lamps turn the walk into something else again — part of Siena after dark.

Practical Information

Ground: cobbles and real hills — the spine is level, everything off it is not. The escalator systems can bail you out at the Fontebranda and station ends. Cost: nothing. This is the best free thing in Siena after the Campo itself — the full free list. Museums: by arrangement with each contrada — ask days ahead, not on the doorstep; details in the contrade guide. Palio days: on 2 July and 16 August the centre fills and closes progressively — walk the terzi in the morning or save the route for another day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you visit Siena's contrade? Yes — their streets are public and their fountains, plaques and oratorio façades are visible to any walker. Museums open by arrangement; the neighbourhoods themselves ask only ordinary respect.

How long does it take to walk all 17 contrade? A committed full afternoon, or three separate hour-long strolls — one per terzo, which is how the city itself organises them.

What should I look for in each contrada? The fountain with the contrada's animal, boundary plaques and tiles, the iron flag brackets on the palazzi, and the museum and oratory doors.

Which contrada is the Campo in? None — the Campo is civic, neutral ground, which is precisely why the Palio is run there. The contrade begin in the streets off it.

By the Siena & Toscana editors