Siena is an endlessly mysterious medieval city in Tuscany, containing plenty of Gothic architecture within it’s city walls to be enjoyed, without the need to venture into a single museum. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the nation’s most visited tourist attractions. A popular destination for day-trippers, many would recommend staying at least one night here so as to scratch the surface of this intriguing place. The heart of the city is the scallop-shaped Piazza Il Campo, arguably one of Italy’s loveliest squares, and the setting for the thrilling Palio bareback horse race. This was

Getting there

The closest international airports are Peretola Airport in Florence, and Galileo Galilei International Airport in Pisa. There are two to three buses daily (Sena line) between Siena and Bologna Airport as well.

By train, the city can be reached from both Pisa and Florence, changing at Empoli. Siena railway station is located at the bottom of a long hill outside the city walls. A series of escalators connects the train station with the old city on top of hill.

Buses leave from Piazza Gramsci, located within the city walls. Buses are available directly to and from Florence, a one-hour trip, as well as from Rome (three hours), Milan (four and a half hours), and from various other towns in Tuscany and beyond.

Siena was established as a Roman colony by Augustus, and for a brief period in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, was a major European city.

During this time, it controlled most of the southern Tuscany and its wool industry, dominated the trade routes between France and Rome, and maintained Italy’s richest pre-Medici banks. This era climaxed with the defeat of a far superior Florentine army at Montaperti in 1260. Although the result was reversed permanently nine years later, Siena embarked on an unrivalled urban development under its mercantile governors, the Council of Nine.

The Black Death reached Siena in May 1348, halting this prosperity, and by October, two thirds of the city’s inhabitants had perished. To this day, the city has never fully recovered, and in the immediate aftermath, the politics of the city descended into chaos. In 1557 Philip II gave up Siena to Cosimo de’ Medici in lieu of war services, and it became part of Cosimo’s Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The lack of subsequent development explains Siena’s astonishing state of preservation: little was built and still less demolished.

Since World War II, Siena has again become prosperous, thanks partly to tourism and partly to the resurgence of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena. This bank, founded in Siena in 1472 and currently the city’s largest employer, is a major player in Italian finance. It today sponsors much of Siena’s cultural life, coexisting, apparently easily, with one of Italy’s strongest left-wing councils.