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Siena is simply stunning. Its breathtaking architecture, created in brick and marble, has survived amazingly, virtually intact, since the Middle Ages. Its great square, the Piazza del Campo, is considered to be one of the most beautiful public spaces in Europe, and is of course world-famous for the 'Palio', the traditional medieval horse race that still takes place twice yearly.

Siena is built on seven hills and made up of a winding maze of narrow streets and alleyways enclosed within the old city walls - designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a small city covering around a square mile and is easy and pleasant to walk around, though hilly.
Siena's long and complex history goes back to Roman and Etruscan times, and while it was not initially one of the region's most important cities, it later became powerful through trade.
It became a great banking and cultural centre, the fortunes of its inhabitants growing through textile manufacture, chiefly wool. For over 400 years it was in direct and frequently violent competition with Florence, leaving little time for development of the city itself. This, combined with the ravages of the Plague of 1348 that decimated the population, caused Siena to remain one of the most remarkable examples of a medieval city, where the visitor can sense for a while what life must have been like in the Middle Ages.

- The redbrick paved Piazza del Campo.
- The Duomo, dating from 12th century, spectacularly striped in black and white.
- The Palazzo Pubblico and Civic Museum.
- The Torre del Mangia, 120 metres high, for fabulous views - 388 steps!

- The old and very famous confectionery, Nannini's.
- The jewellers' and potters' shops of the narrow streets
- Via Bianchi di Sopra for designer clothes and accessories.

Markets are held every Wednesday morning, offering everything from food to junk. The Antiques Market takes place on the 3rd Sunday of each month.

Like the bull-running of Pamplona, Siena's Palio has become world-famous, attended by large crowds and widely televised.
Though it is often a brutal and violent event, for rider and horse alike, the event is the source of a great deal of civic pride. It takes place on 2nd July and 16th August each year and dates back to the Middle Ages. The horses and riders stream through the narrow streets and emerge into the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, in a riot of brilliantly-coloured medieval costumes and trappings. It bears absolutely no comparison with horse-racing elsewhere.

Siena is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and, to quote the Organisation, "the whole city of Siena, built around the Piazza del Campo, was devised as a work of art that blends into the surrounding landscape."
When it comes to museums housing great art, Siena does not compare with Florence, but its Gothic and Romanesque buildings, unspoilt by the passage of time, are breathtaking. To stand in the Piazza del Campo as the sun sets is rather like being able to stand within a great work of art. The brick and stone of these marvellous buildings seems to glow in the sunset light.
Most of the building materials are of the earthy colours known as ochre and sienna. The colour comes from the iron and manganese pigments in the local clay used. This same clay (terra di Sienna) was the source of the artist's colour called sienna or burnt Sienna. The local mines petered out in the 1940's and the colour is now produced in Sicily and Sardinia and in the USA.