Siena highlights

The Piazza del Campo

The central piazza that hosts the annual Palio horse race. The piazza is big but you wonder how you could stage a horse race there. and why anyone in their right mind would want to be a jockey in the race.

Palazzo Pubblico

With the Torre del Mangia, Siena’s major landmark and visible for miles around. One of the civic towers that was built in the middle ages by the comuni as expres­sions of civic pride and asser­tions of independence from Pope and Emperor. Siena’s at 88 metres is almost but not quite the tallest in Italy (it’s beaten by Bologna and Cremona). It’s called the Torre del Mangia after its first guardian Giovanni di Balduccio, who was nicknamed Mangiacquadagnior simply ‘Mangia’ because of his reputation as a spend­thrift - literally trans­lated the name means ‘eats earnings’.

You can climb the tower. (opening hours and ticket prices).

While you’re there, visit the Museo Civico. There’s lots of great art in Siena but if you don’t see anything else go here. Highlights include Sala del Mappamondo (Hall of the World Map), where you can admire Simone Martini’s Maestà (Virgin Mary in Majesty) (image opens in overlay). Picture from Wikimedia Commons (Google Art Project). On the other side of the room is another work attributed to Martini, a fresco of Guidoriccio da Fogliano, a captain of the Sienese army.

In the next room are the frescoes Allegories of Good and Bad Government by Ambrogio Lorenzetti. At the end of the room the central fresco shows Justice, Wisdom, Virtue and Peace on the walls on either side are contrasting scenes depicting (you’re probably ahead of me here) the results of good and bad government. The good depicts a sunlit, idyllic, serene city, with joyous citizens and a countryside filled with crops and a contadino (countryman) coming to town to sell his pig; the bad city is filled with vices, crime and disease. Sadly, the fresco of the results of bad government is in fairly poor condition.

Ambrogio Lorenzetti: the Effects of Good Government in the Countryside. (Siena Palazzo Pubblico). Source: Wikimedia Commons/Google Art Project

Siena’s other must-see is the Duomo. For me the exuberant gothic façade is one of Toscana’s greatest sights. It’s certainly one of the greatest things you can see for free. But it’s worth stumping up for the admission to go inside. There’s the cupola by Bernini, statues by Donatello and Bernini, the excep­tional mosaic floor, and the Libreria Piccolomini (Piccolomini library). The library frescoes, are by Pinturricchio - one of his assistants was the young Raphael (Raffaelo Sanzio). They celebrate the life of the young Enea Silvio Piccolomini who worked as a diplomat before going on to become Pope Pius II. Piccolomini was also responsible for the rebuilding of Pienza - his home town and birth­place as an ideal Renaissance city.

Cycling around Siena

From Siena you could head for Sovicille and the Grand Tour della Val di Merse. You could do this as a circuit and resume this tour as it heads for the Val d’Orcia, or you could link with the Gran Tour della Maremma which will take you all the way to the coast and back. These areas may not be as well known as the area between Siena and Firenze, but it has every bit as much to offer. 

You could also do all or part of the Eroica signposted route which follows a 205-kilometre figure of eight to the south and east of the city.