Among those matters to which the men who undertake city's government should turn their attention, its beauty is most important, wrote Salimbene da Parma in his thirteenth century chronicle of Siena. All medieval chroniclers stress the interest the governments of the Italian communes took in the outward appearance not only of public buildings, but also of the towns open spaces, squares and streets. The towns inherited from our ancestors are perhaps the best imaginable to ensure a maximum of what can be called urban felicity.
