Piazza dell'Anfiteatro in the morning

The Roman amphitheatre was quarried for stone in the Middle Ages and houses were built into its footprint, so the square that emerged keeps the exact oval of the arena. Nothing else in Tuscany looks like it: an unbroken ring of yellow, ochre and pink facades with no street entering it, only four dark barrel-vaulted passages cut through the buildings.

Those four tunnels are the best frames here. Standing inside one and shooting out, the dark arch surrounds the lit oval and the subjects walking into it — a ready-made vignette that needs no post-processing. Inside the square, the ring of shutters and washing lines makes a background that works from any angle, which is rare.

The oval is enclosed, so the light is indirect for most of the day; early morning is when the sun clears the eastern roofline and slides down the far wall. It is also the only hour when the cafe tables are still stacked and the paving is clear. From late morning the square is full of outdoor seating and stays that way until midnight.