# The Siena floor is uncovered twice in 2026

> Siena cathedral's 56 marble inlays are visible from June 27 to July 31 and from August 18 to November 15, 2026. The rest of the year they stay covered.

URL: https://myitalia.it/stories/a-floor-you-can-see-twice-a-year
Last updated: 2026-09-02

The marble floor of Siena cathedral is uncovered in 2026 from June 27 to July 31 and from August 18 to November 15, and stays boarded over for the rest of the year.

## Two windows, and the gap between them

The 2026 dates are June 27 to July 31 and August 18 to November 15. Between August 1 and August 17 the floor goes back under its boards, and that gap sits in the middle of high season.

The Palio dell'Assunta runs on August 16, inside the closed period. If you have come to Siena for the race, the floor is not part of the trip, and no ticket will change that.

Anyone building a Tuscan itinerary around this should treat the dates as hard. The covering is physical: planks over marble, not a light left off.

## 56 inlays, six centuries, more than 40 artists

The floor is made of 56 marble inlays, produced between the 14th and the 19th century by more than 40 artists, among them Pinturicchio and Domenico Beccafumi.

Six centuries of work means six centuries of style on one surface, from medieval line drawing in colored stone to Beccafumi's tonal shading. You are looking at an argument between generations, laid flat.

It is also the reason for the boards. A floor is walked on, and a floor with 56 worked panels is a conservation problem that no amount of visitor discipline solves.

## Il Sommo Bene, and why 2026 is longer

The 2026 uncovering is titled Il Sommo Bene and is tied to the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Francis, on October 3, 1226. That anniversary is why the second window stretches to November 15.

It is an extraordinary uncovering rather than the routine one, which is worth knowing if you are comparing dates with a friend who came a few years ago.

The operator is the Opera della Metropolitana di Siena. Tickets are sold at Piazza Duomo 7, at the Dear Guests visitor center at via di Città 48, and online.

## The boards are the normal state

The floor spends most of the year under protective boarding, which means the covered condition is the rule and the uncovering is the exception. Visitors who see the cathedral outside the 2 windows are not unlucky; they are seeing the standard arrangement.

That is also why the dates are set by the Opera della Metropolitana rather than published as a fixed annual calendar. Each uncovering is a decision about conservation, taken for a given year and a given occasion.

For a floor of 56 inlays cut by more than 40 hands across six centuries, the boards are the reason there is anything left to uncover. Marble cut in the 1300s does not survive continuous foot traffic without them.

## After November 15, 2026, we do not know

The next uncovering after November 15, 2026 has not been published, so this page does not give dates for 2027. That is a gap in the source, not an oversight here.

Check the Opera della Metropolitana before booking a trip built on the floor. Any site that prints 2027 dates today is guessing at a calendar the chapter has not issued.

## The July window and the American calendar

39.7% of American nights in Italy fall between June and August, and July is the peak month, which puts the first 2026 window, June 27 to July 31, squarely inside the American season.

The second window is the better one for anyone with a choice. September and October fall inside August 18 to November 15, past the July peak of the American season, and the cathedral is a cooler room in a cooler month.

For the two race days in the square below, see [the Palio is free from the middle](/stories/the-palio-is-free-from-the-middle), and for the rest, [things to do in Siena](/towns/siena/things-to-do).

## FAQ

### When can you see the floor of Siena cathedral?

In 2026, from June 27 to July 31 and from August 18 to November 15. Outside those two windows the marble inlays are covered by protective boarding and cannot be seen. The uncovering is titled Il Sommo Bene.

### Why is the cathedral floor covered up?

To protect it. The floor is 56 marble inlays worked over six centuries, from the 14th to the 19th, by more than 40 artists including Pinturicchio and Domenico Beccafumi, and it is walked on when uncovered. Boarding covers it for most of the year.

### Is the floor uncovered on the day of the August Palio?

No. In 2026 the second window opens on August 18, two days after the Palio dell'Assunta on August 16. Anyone in Siena for the August race finds the floor boarded over.

### Where do you buy tickets for Siena cathedral?

At Piazza Duomo 7, at the Dear Guests visitor center at via di Città 48, or online. The operator is the Opera della Metropolitana di Siena, which runs the cathedral complex and sets the uncovering dates.

### Why is the 2026 uncovering longer than usual?

It is an extraordinary uncovering tied to the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Francis, on October 3, 1226, and it carries the title Il Sommo Bene. That anniversary is the reason the second window runs to November 15, 2026.

## Sources

| Fact | Source | Confidence | Valid until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nel 2026 il pavimento a tarsie marmoree del Duomo di Siena e' scoperto in due finestre: dal 27 giugno al 31 luglio e dal 18 agosto al 15 novembre 2026. La scopertura straordinaria, intitolata 'Il Sommo Bene', e' legata all'ottavo centenario della morte di san Francesco (3 ottobre 1226). Per il resto dell'anno il pavimento resta coperto da protezioni e non e' visibile. | [Opera della Metropolitana di Siena](https://operaduomo.siena.it/news/il-sommo-bene-scopertura-del-pavimento-del-duomo-di-siena-2026/) | medium | 2026-12-31 |
| Il pavimento del Duomo di Siena e' formato da 56 tarsie marmoree realizzate nell'arco di sei secoli, dal Trecento all'Ottocento, da oltre quaranta artisti, tra cui il Pinturicchio e Domenico Beccafumi. | [Opera della Metropolitana di Siena](https://operaduomo.siena.it/news/il-sommo-bene-scopertura-del-pavimento-del-duomo-di-siena-2026/) | medium | 2099-12-31 |
| L'americano non e' un turista estivo: il 39,7% delle sue notti cade tra giugno e agosto e il 25,1% in bassa stagione; il picco e' luglio, non agosto. | [Banca d'Italia, Indagine sul turismo internazionale](https://www.bancaditalia.it/statistiche/tematiche/rapporti-estero/turismo-internazionale/) | medium | 2027-07-31 |

## Image

https://media.myitalia.it/media/city.siena.1600.jpg
Author: LigaDue. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SienaPalazzoPubblicoPiazzaDelMercato.jpg

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