Siena: the cathedral floor shows twice in 2026

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

Two windows, and a covered year around them

The 2026 uncovering runs June 27 to July 31 and then August 18 to November 15, under the title Il Sommo Bene, tied to the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Francis on October 3, 1226¹. Outside those dates the inlays are protected by boarding and you will not see them.

The Opera della Metropolitana manages access, and tickets come from Piazza Duomo 7, the Dear Guests visitor center at via di Città 48, or online. If the floor is the reason you are coming, check the dates before you book the train, because the gap between the two windows falls in the middle of August. Read a floor you can see twice a year.

56 panels, six centuries, forty hands

The floor is made of 56 marble inlays produced across six centuries, from the 14th to the 19th, by more than 40 artists, including Pinturicchio and Domenico Beccafumi.

That is why it comes and goes: it is a working floor, walked on, and each generation added to it rather than restoring it whole. Seeing it uncovered means seeing the joins between the centuries, which the postcards flatten out.

The Palio is free from the middle

Standing in the center of Piazza del Campo costs nothing, for all 3 laps of the race. The money changes hands for the stands built around the square and for the windows and balconies of the private buildings above.

The race is ridden bareback and preceded by the Corteo Storico, over 600³ costumed participants leaving Piazza del Duomo in the early afternoon. Free means committing to hours in the sun with no way out of the crowd once the gates close, which is the trade you are making. Read the Palio is free from the middle and events in Siena.

Museo Civico, and which combination pays

The Museo Civico in the Palazzo Pubblico costs €10, or €11 if you book, with a reduced rate of €9 and a family ticket at €22, and the Torre del Mangia is €10 on its own (2026). Prices in euros.

The combined tickets are where it gets interesting: Museo Civico with Santa Maria della Scala is €14 and valid two days, Museo Civico with the tower is €15, and all three together are €20, or €40 for a family. Entry is free for residents of the comune of Siena, children under 11, public school groups, licensed guides, and disabled visitors with a companion.

The tower is the one thing you cannot book

There is no online booking for the Torre del Mangia, and the €10 ticket is sold at the Museo Civico and Santa Maria della Scala desks on the day of the climb itself.

Ascents leave every 45 minutes with a maximum of 25 people each, and they run out. The practical consequence: if the tower matters to you, buy it as your first act of the day, then go and do something else until your slot. See things to do in Siena and Tuscany.

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