Santa Maria della Scala is a museum of Siena, located in Piazza del Duomo, right in front of the cathedral of Siena. It was the first hospital in Europe. Today, Santa Maria della Scala is one of the most important museums and cultural centers of the city of Siena. It is without doubt a tourist place to see in the city of Siena.
The museum hosts a series of old collections (National Archaeological Museum in the basement) and modern alternating rooms and narrow monumental corridors, labyrinthine tunnels dug in the tuff and large spaces with vaulted brick. In its 350 000 cubic meters of extension (of which 13,000 square meters are open to the public) there is a summary of the city of Siena and its history, covering a period of about a thousand years. With the Pellegrinaio, the most important cycle of fifteenth century Sienese.