Piazza delle Erbe

Piazza delle Erbe is a small public square beside the Collegiata in the historic centre of San Gimignano. It lies on the route from Piazza del Duomo towards the Rocca di Montestaffoli, the fortress built under Florentine authority in 1353. As part of the town’s network of adjoining squares, it also serves outdoor cultural events. The 2014 Nottilucente festival programme placed a sequence of late-night pop and rock performances here, while other concerts occupied nearby courtyards and larger piazzas. Its cultural use therefore forms part of a dispersed programme across the medieval town rather than a permanent indoor theatre. Herbs and produce gave this small San Gimignano square its name. It opens off the cathedral square behind the Collegiata, quieter and more enclosed than its celebrated neighbour, and summer opera reaches it too — Puccini's La bohème has been staged here in the open air. The dimensions of the space suit voices and modest forces far better than a full symphonic apparatus, which is a good part of its appeal.