Map of Siena

My personal view of Siena seen from above

My personal map of Siena

I drew this bird's-eye view of Siena in October 2016, trying to capture the main directives of the city, built along the Frankish pilgrimage route, and formed by the rivalry between local government and the power of the church. The two main markers in the city are the Duomo and the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo with the tall tower of the "Mangia" in front of it.

The challenge with an aerial view like this is keeping the architectural detail legible while also showing the larger pattern - how the fan-shaped Piazza del Campo anchors everything, with the Duomo's striped campanile and the Torre del Mangia rising above the terracotta roofs. I worked entirely from memory, sketching the structure in pen first and then adding the watercolor washes.

What I love about Siena is how compact and coherent it is - you can see the whole city at once, understand its shape, how it grew organically along the ridges. The pale hills receding into the distance give a sense of how isolated these Tuscan hill towns must have felt centuries ago.