Buonconvento: City Walls, Porta Senese and Via Francigena

Buonconvento offers several points of interest for your trip: city walls dating from the late Middle Ages still surround the town, and the southern section of the Via Francigena Toscana passes through Buonconvento. Other highlights include Porta Senese, the Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo and the Museo della Mezzadria. Depending on whether you are interested in architecture, rural history or a longer stage on foot or by bicycle, these themes can shape the focus of your stay.

City Walls, Gate and Church

Buonconvento is still surrounded by city walls built in the late Middle Ages. At Porta Senese, you will find a Sienese arch, Guelph merlons and the coats of arms of Siena and Buonconvento. The arch and merlons describe the design of the gate; the coats of arms add two clearly identified local references. This means that, when exploring the town’s history, you can pay attention both to its architectural form and to the symbols of the two places.

The Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo offers a different point of reference in time. Its brick façade was redesigned in the early 18th century in a neoclassical style. By comparison, the city walls point to the late Middle Ages: Buonconvento thus displays different periods of construction, which you can distinguish when exploring its historic architecture.

Rural History at the Museo della Mezzadria

The Museo della Mezzadria di Buonconvento documents the rural world, landscape and community of the Tuscan countryside up to the 1960s. The two-storey exhibition includes historical photographs, original objects, films, archival documents and multimedia displays. These different media and materials offer different ways to explore the same subject. If you are more interested in rural history than in individual architectural features, the museum offers a different focus from the city walls, gate and church.

The Museo della Mezzadria also offers educational activities for children. If you are travelling with children, you can take this into account when planning, alongside the museum’s historical focus.

Via Francigena and Getting to the Stage Starting Point

The southern section of the Via Francigena Toscana passes through Buonconvento along the route from Ponte d’Arbia to San Quirico d’Orcia. This section is suitable for longer distances on foot or by bicycle. The places named here situate Buonconvento along a specific stretch of the Via Francigena.

You can get to the stage starting point via the Siena–Grosseto railway line, which serves Buonconvento station, or by bus on route 112. The route and the journey to it concern different questions: the route describes the stage, while the train and bus information relates to its starting point. When planning, you can therefore distinguish whether the route itself or getting to the start of this stage is more important for your trip.

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Go to the main travel overview: Siena.