Siena worth a lengthy stay


Great art, great food found in lesser-known Tuscan city

Siena worth a lengthy stay

A rooftop view of Siena, Italy.

Photograph by: fabiomancino , Fotolia.com


Most people are content to see Siena on a day trip (it's just about an hour south of Florence), but it's worth a longer visit. Florence may have the big-time museums, but Siena was made for strolling. Staying at a little family-run inn in the old town centre, I feel like an honorary Sienese.

Five hundred years ago, Italy was the centre of humanism. Today, the self-assured Sienese remember their centuries-old accomplishments with pride. In the 1300s, Siena was one of Europe's largest cities and a major military force, in a class with Florence, Venice and Genoa. But weakened by a disastrous plague and conquered by her Florentine rivals, Siena became a backwater for six centuries.

Siena's loss became our sightseeing gain, because its political and economic irrelevance preserved its Gothic-era identity, most notably its great, gorgeous central piazza - the Campo. People hang out as if at the beach at this tilted shellshaped "square" of red brick. It gets my vote for the finest piazza in all of Europe.




Great art, including Michelangelo statues and Bernini sculptures, fills the church interior. Nicola Pisano carved the wonderful marble pulpit in 1268. It's crowded with delicate Gothic storytelling - get up close to study the scenes from the life of Christ and the Last Judgment.

Hiding between the Duomo and the Campo are intriguing back streets, lined with colourful flags and studded with iron rings for tethering horses. Those flags represent the city's neighbourhood associations (or contrade), whose fierce loyalties are on vivid display twice each summer during the Palio, a wild bareback horse race around the Campo (held July 2 and Aug. 16 every year; don't show up without a hotel reservation if you hope to stay overnight).

Because Siena's steep lanes go in anything but a straight line, it's easy to get lost - but there's no rush to get found. As you wander, you'll be tempted by Sienese specialties in the shops along the way: gourmet pasta, vintage Chianti, boar prosciutto, extra virgin olive oil and panforte.

If you don't think of panforte as fruitcake, you might like it. Some bakeries claim their recipes for this chewy concoction of nuts, honey and candied fruits date back to the 13th century. Some even force employees to sign non-disclosure agreements to ensure they won't reveal the special spice blend that flavours the dense cake.



After a quick aperitivo graze, I feel primed and ready to join the passeggiata - the evening stroll. I try to time my arrival at the Campo just at that magical moment when the sky is the same twilight hue as the rustic stones of the square. As the Campo fills with people-watchers, I linger near the Renaissance water feature called the Fountain of Joy. Siena's residents used to gather here to exchange gossip while filling their water jugs; it's still a meeting point for tourists and locals.

In 600 years, not much has changed. Life in Siena is good.


Original source article: Siena worth a lengthy stay
A rooftop view of Siena, Italy.

A rooftop view of Siena, Italy.

Photograph by: fabiomancino, Fotolia.com

A rooftop view of Siena, Italy.
Erect as an exclamation point, Siena’s medieval tower soars above the main square.

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