Fortezza Medicea

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Cosimo I built it in 1561 to hold a city that had just lost its independence. It is now a public park, free and open at all hours, with the best sunset walk in Siena along the top of the walls.

Status: Free public park, always open. Enoteca Italiana Siena reopened inside the Bastione San Filippo on 12 May 2026. Information checked 5 August 2026.

At a Glance

The Fortezza Medicea stands on the north-western edge of Siena’s walled city, on the hill above the Lizza gardens and immediately beside the Stadio Comunale Artemio Franchi. It was not built to defend Siena but to dominate it: Cosimo I de’ Medici raised it after the fall of the Sienese Republic to prevent any further revolt. Today it is a free, tree-lined public park whose ramparts give some of the widest views over the city and the hills beyond.

Location and Setting

The fortress occupies the high north-western corner of Siena’s historic centre, in the Terzo di Camollia. Its territory falls within the Contrada Sovrana dell’Istrice, whose district extends across the green space of the Lizza and the Fortezza. It looks down on the Stadio Artemio Franchi, which sits in the ditch below its northern wall, while the Basilica di San Domenico rises close by to the south-east.

The ramparts are the reason most visitors climb up here. Broad walkways run along the top of the walls, shaded by trees and lined with benches.

• From the Bastione San Domenico: the Torre del Mangia, the dome of the Duomo, and the Basilica di San Domenico
• From the northern and eastern bastions: the city’s northern edge beyond Porta Camollia
• Beyond the rooftops: open countryside and the Chianti hills
• The Giardini della Lizza, a public garden laid out on the former cavalry exercise ground, sit directly below the entrance

Did you know? For generations of Sienese the Fortezza has been the city’s favourite place for an evening stroll.

History

By the mid-16th century Siena had fallen under the control of Emperor Charles V, whose plenipotentiary Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza governed the city. A fortress — the “Cittadella” — was imposed on the hill of San Prospero around 1548–1550, explicitly to keep the restless city under control, built partly with the forced labour of the Sienese themselves. In 1552 the Sienese rose up, expelled the Spanish garrison with French help, and razed the Cittadella.

The revolt triggered a long war. After a siege of more than a year, Siena surrendered in 1555; French troops and hundreds of Sienese left the city to continue resistance as the “Republic of Siena in exile at Montalcino.” That last republican outpost held out until the Peace of Cateau-Cambresis, surrendering to Cosimo de’ Medici in 1559. Cosimo, who had received Siena as a fief from Philip II, then built the present fortress to make any further rebellion impossible.

• Works began in 1561 and were completed in 1563, to the design of Baldassarre Lanci of Urbino. One local account extends completion to 1567
• Its purpose was control, not defence: for roughly two centuries it served as a garrison and arsenal aimed at the city, while the medieval walls were left largely neglected
• The fortress was demilitarised in the later 18th century under Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, when the esplanade in front — the Lizza — was turned into public gardens
• In the 20th century the interior, until then used as a barracks, was converted into the public park it remains today

Did you know? The fortress was designed so that its strength faced inward, toward the people of Siena, rather than outward at foreign enemies.

Architecture and Layout

The Fortezza is a textbook example of Italian bastioned fortification, built entirely of brick, with a large wedge-shaped bastion at each of the four corners. The entrance is on the north-east side, facing Florence and now opening onto the Lizza gardens; it was once reached by a drawbridge, now gone.

• The four bastions are named La Madonna, San Domenico, San Filippo and San Francesco

• Three bastions carry the Medici coat of arms in travertine above a lion’s head; on the south-facing bastion only the lion’s head survives. These sculptures are attributed to the Florentine Francesco Camilliani
• The external perimeter runs to about 1,500 m
• The tops of the very wide walls carry broad, tree-lined walkways with benches; a semicircular amphitheatre was later built on the central parade ground for open-air performances

Did you know? Baldassarre Lanci was not only a military engineer but a designer of survey and perspective instruments; some of the tools he made for the Medici court survive at the Museo Galileo in Florence.

What Is Inside Today

The Fortezza functions above all as a public park, open at all hours and free to enter, threaded with gravel avenues. At its heart is the amphitheatre used for summer events, and the various bastions host cultural tenants.

• Siena Jazz — the Fondazione Siena Jazz has its seat inside the fortress, with teaching space, classrooms and a national jazz study centre
• Enoteca Italiana Siena — the historic national wine body, founded in the fortress in 1933, ceased operating in its old public form after 2017. The brand was later acquired privately, and in July 2024 the Comune di Siena handed over the keys to the Bastioni San Francesco and San Filippo. After a temporary reopening in 2025, the wine bar in the Bastione San Filippo was inaugurated on 12 May 2026
• Planned expansion — a restaurant and a wine museum are planned for the Bastione San Francesco, which has suffered water-infiltration problems; the operators have indicated a 2027 target, which should be treated as an announced plan rather than a fixed date
• Amphitheatre and open spaces — the central arena stages concerts and shows in summer; the surrounding avenues and the adjacent Lizza gardens provide open-air gym equipment, benches and a children’s playground
• Adjacent car park — the two-level Parcheggio Stadio-Fortezza

The old picture of the fortress — a permanently open Enoteca Italiana wine museum in the Bastione San Francesco — is out of date and should not be repeated. Several official and tourism pages still describe it in the present tense.

Did you know? The Enoteca Italiana traces its origin to the first national wine fair, inaugurated in the fortress in 1933 — making the return of wine to the Bastione San Filippo in 2026 a homecoming after years of closure.

Events

Through the warmer months the fortress becomes one of Siena’s main cultural venues, under a summer programme spanning music, culture, sport and wellness, food and children’s activities, with main-stage shows on the Piazzale della Libertà.

• The long-running open-air summer cinema, staged in the amphitheatre for decades, was relocated to the nearby Stadio Artemio Franchi from 2025
• Siena Jazz’s international summer workshop culminates in concerts and jam sessions, some staged at the Bastione San Filippo
• The Chigiana International Festival runs in July and August, but its Siena open-air concerts are held in Piazza del Campo rather than in the Fortezza

Did you know? After decades in the fortress amphitheatre, Siena’s open-air cinema was moved to the football stadium next door — a change that prompted public debate and a formal question in the city council.

Practical Information

Checked 5 August 2026.

Opening hours. The Fortezza is a public park and is open at all hours, free of charge. Individual tenants keep their own hours; event access depends on the programme.

Admission. Free to enter the park and ramparts. Events may be ticketed.

Accessibility. The main avenues along the ramparts are broad, level gravel paths and are largely step-free once inside; approaches from the Lizza involve gentle slopes. Surfaces are unpaved in places. There are no dedicated disabled bays inside the adjacent car park.

Walking routes. From Piazza del Campo, about 15 minutes on foot north-west via Banchi di Sopra and the Lizza. From the Duomo, about 18 minutes.

ZTL. The fortress and its car park lie just outside the historic-centre restricted traffic zone; do not drive into the walled centre without authorisation.

Parking. The Parcheggio Stadio-Fortezza is on site: two levels, open 24 hours, run by Si.Ge.Ri.Co. S.p.A. (the operator formerly called Siena Parcheggi, renamed in January 2022, trading as SiPark). Tariff €2.00 per hour, daily maximum €26.00, free between 20:00 and 07:00; maximum vehicle height 2.5 m. The Fortezza-side entrance is closed on Wednesdays for the weekly market, and access is restricted during home football matches.

Best times to visit. Late afternoon and sunset, for the light over the Duomo and the hills from the Bastione San Domenico.

Wednesday market. Siena’s main weekly market is held every Wednesday morning in the Lizza–Fortezza area, spreading along the surrounding avenues. It does not run on the Palio days (2 July and 16 August) or major public holidays. Expect crowds and altered parking on Wednesdays.

Safety and lighting at night. The park is open and unfenced at night; as with any large park after dark, the tree-lined avenues are only partly lit, so take usual care away from the main event areas.

Sources: Comune di Siena (comune.siena.it); Visit Siena (visitsiena.it); Terre di Siena (terredisiena.it); italia.it; Si.Ge.Ri.Co. S.p.A. / SiPark (sipark.siena.it); Fondazione Siena Jazz (sienajazz.it); Enoteca Italiana Siena (enotecaitalianasiena.it); Accademia Musicale Chigiana (chigiana.org); Archivio di Stato di Siena. Checked 5 August 2026.