Effects of Good Government in the City is a fresco painted by Ambrogio Lorenzetti between 1338 and 1339. This work forms part of a larger cycle of frescoes commissioned for the Sala dei Nove (Hall of the Nine) in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, a civic building that housed the city’s governing council. The cycle was created at a time when Siena was a powerful and independent city-state, and the frescoes were intended to illustrate the benefits of just and effective government. The fresco depicts a panoramic view of a bustling medieval city, filled with activity and civic life.

Figures engage in trade, construction, dancing, and conversation, while buildings of varying shapes and colors create a dense urban backdrop. The composition is organized to show harmony and order, with clear lines of movement and interaction among the citizens. Lorenzetti uses tempera and fresco techniques to achieve a palette of soft reds, pinks, ochres, and greys, with careful attention to architectural detail and the gestures of the figures.

Notable elements include a group of women dancing in a circle, merchants at their stalls, and craftsmen at work, all set within the fortified city walls. The fresco was commissioned by the government of Siena, known as the Council of Nine, as part of a program to promote civic virtues and the common good. Effects of Good Government in the City is one of three main scenes in Lorenzetti’s cycle, which also includes allegorical representations of Good and Bad Government and their effects on the countryside. The work remains in its original location in the Palazzo Pubblico, where it has been preserved as a key example of Sienese civic art and an important document of fourteenth-century political thought.