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Siena

Travoley
Siena
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Siena Travel Guide

  • About Siena
Gloriously Gothic and effortlessly civilised, intimate Siena is Tuscany’s most seductive calling card. This compact, Italian city is endlessly intriguing, from the shell-shaped Campo to the galleries full of doe-eyed Madonnas and sad-eyed saints. Born middle-aged, Siena is an antidote to fashion lists. It has smugly looked the same for 900 years and has no truck with trends. In essence, it’s Italy’s last surviving city-state: a provincial capital with the psychology of a village and the grandeur of a nation.Siena is the counterpoint to nearby Florence. It’s as medieval as its rival is Renaissance. It’s the feminine foil to Florentine masculinity: Siena paints Madonnas; Florence prefers the machismo of Michelangelo’s David.Change is anathema to the Sienese, but what is there to alter? The rose-brick cityscape is too coherent to tweak. The locals have been giving lessons in living since the enlightened city council first set the tone in the 13th century. Its hearty food and wine still converts hardened sinners and the biannual Palio horse race continues to command the passion of the population.Today, romantics drift along medieval alleys suffused with melancholy charm. Tall, flush-brick palaces conceal world-class art collections. Culture vultures slaver over the turreted town hall and the theatrical mansions. Mystical churches and monumental fountains are simply part of the furniture; quaffing Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino wines in the Medici Fortress an everyday joy. Tomorrow they might tour the vineyards by Vespa or take a Tuscan cookery course in a countryside kitchen. Carved into Etruscan cellars, the city’s homely inns are full of foodies salivating over truffles and wild boar pasta.Siena is a chiaroscuro city, from its striped marble Cathedral to its black-and-white city emblem. Tunnelled backstreets open into the brilliant, light-bathed Campo, where all roads eventually lead. Locals liken it to the enveloping cloak of the Madonna, the city’s patron saint, yet Italians know it as a city ‘a misura d’uomo’ (a city ‘made to the measure of man’).When your horizons shrink to a single neighbourhood bar, you will have discovered the Sienese spirit. It’s time slow down and start walking.
  • Siena History
A vital commercial and banking centre, Siena was a regional powerhouse until pesky Florence took the crown. Legend has it that Siena was founded by Senius, the son of Remus. You can see statues of a she-wolf suckling the mythical twin brothers throughout the city.The truth is that Siena started life as an Etruscan settlement, later becoming a Roman colony called Sena Julia. It was the Lombard kings who really brought Siena into its own however. By the 12th century, Siena was flourishing as an independent community.Siena grew wealthy, as it was an important stop on the Via Francigena – the pilgrim route from France to Rome.The influx of travellers and merchants led to the establishment of hostels, shops, a university and banking facilities.Constantly at loggerheads with fierce rival Florence, Siena overpowered the Florentine army at the Battle of Montaperti in 1260.The Ghibellines lost power soon after however, and outbreaks of the Black Death beginning in 1348 killed two-thirds of the city’s population.Despite these setbacks, Siena continued to build fine piazzas, churches and towers, and in 1472, the powerful Monte dei Paschi Bank was established.In 1487, Pandolfo Petrucci snatched power. He and his descendants ruled the city with an iron fist until, following a lengthy battle, Siena surrendered to Spain in 1555. To Siena’s chagrin, Philip II of Spain handed the city over to arch rivals Florence a couple of years later.In 1861, Siena was integrated into the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.Today, the city is a thriving market town and tourist magnet, thanks to its beautiful medieval architecture and extraordinary art treasures.
  • Did you know?
The Palio bareback horse races have been held in Siena since the mid-17th century. Monte dei Paschi Bank is the oldest surviving bank in the world. The Historic Centre of Siena was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995.
  • Weather in Siena
Summer temperatures vary between 25°C-35°C (77°F-95°F) in Siena and July and August brings key events such as the Palio horse race and International Jazz Festival.Autumn brings more comfortable temperatures whilst the city is still brimming with events and arts festivals. But if you’re in the city in October, pack your waterproofs and wellies as showers are frequent and temperatures begin to drop.Winters are very cold and temperatures drop to single digit figures. Meanwhile.Spring is a pleasant time to visit when the city’s flowers are beginning to bloom and many street festivals get into full swing.

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