Not to be confused with
sienna.
Siena (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsjɛːna] (
listen); in English also spelled Sienna, the historic exonym) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.
The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site.[2] It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008.[3] Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice a year.
Siena, like other Tuscan hill towns, was first settled in the time of the Etruscans (c. 900–400 BC) when it was inhabited by a tribe called the Saina. The Etruscans were an advanced people who changed the face of central Italy through their use of irrigation to reclaim previously unfarmable land, and their custom of building their settlements in well-defended hill-forts. A Roman town called Saena Julia was founded at the site in the time of the Emperor Augustus. The first document mentioning it dates from AD 70. Some archaeologists assert that Siena was controlled for a period by a Gaulish tribe called the Saenones.
The Roman origin accounts for the town's emblem: a she-wolf suckling infants Romulus and Remus. According to legend, Siena was founded by Senius, son of Remus, who was in turn the brother of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Statues and other artwork depicting a she-wolf suckling the young twins Romulus and Remus can be seen all over the city of Siena. Other etymologies derive the name from the Etruscan family name "Saina," the Roman family name of the "Saenii," or the Latin word "senex" ("old") or the derived form "seneo", "to be old".
Siena did not prosper under Roman rule. It was not sited near any major roads and lacked opportunities for trade. Its insular status meant that Christianity did not penetrate until the 4th century AD, and it was not until the Lombards invaded Siena and the surrounding territory that it knew prosperity. After the Lombard occupation, the old Roman roads of Via Aurelia and the Via Cassia passed through areas exposed to Byzantine raids, so the Lombards rerouted much of their trade between the Lombards' northern possessions and Rome along a more secure road through Siena. Siena prospered as a trading post, and the constant streams of pilgrims passing to and from Rome provided a valuable source of income in the centuries to come.
The oldest aristocratic families in Siena date their line to the Lombards' surrender in 774 to Charlemagne. At this point, the city was inundated with a swarm of Frankish overseers who married into the existing Sienese nobility and left a legacy that can be seen in the abbeys they founded throughout Sienese territory. Feudal power waned however, and by the death of Countess Matilda in 1115 the border territory of the Mark of Tuscia which had been under the control of her family, the Canossa, broke up into several autonomous regions.
Siena prospered as a city-state, becoming a major centre of money lending and an important player in the wool trade. It was governed at first directly by its bishop, but episcopal power declined during the 12th century. The bishop was forced to concede a greater say in the running of the city to the nobility in exchange for their help during a territorial dispute with Arezzo, and this started a process which culminated in 1167 when the commune of Siena declared its independence from episcopal control. By 1179, it had a written constitution.
During the early 13th century that the majority of the construction of the Siena Cathedral (Duomo) was completed. During the same period the Piazza del Campo grew in importance as the centre of secular life. New streets were constructed leading to it, and it served as the site of the market and the location of various sporting events (perhaps better thought of as riots, in the fashion of the Florentine football matches that are still practised to this day). A wall was constructed in 1194 at the current site of the Palazzo Pubblico to stop soil erosion, an indication of how important the area was becoming as a civic space.
Medieval coin of the Republic of Siena (12th century).
In the early 12th century a self-governing commune replaced the earlier aristocratic government. The consuls who governed the republic slowly became more inclusive of the poblani, or common people, and the commune increased its territory as the surrounding feudal nobles in their fortified castles submitted to the urban power. Siena's republic, struggling internally between nobles and the popular party, usually worked in political opposition to its great rival, Florence, and was in the 13th century predominantly Ghibelline in opposition to Florence's Guelph position (this conflict formed the backdrop for some of Dante's Commedia).
On 4 September 1260 the Sienese Ghibellines, supported by the forces of King Manfred of Sicily, defeated the Florentine Guelphs in the Battle of Montaperti. Before the battle, the Sienese army of around 20,000 faced a much larger Florentine army of around 33,000. Prior to the battle, the entire city was dedicated to the Virgin Mary (this was done several times in the city's history, most recently in 1944 to guard the city from Allied bombs). The man given command of Siena for the duration of the war, Bonaguida Lucari, walked barefoot and bareheaded, a halter around his neck, to the Duomo. Leading a procession composed of all the city's residents, he was met by all the clergy. Lucari and the bishop embraced to show the unity of church and state, then Lucari formally gave the city and contrade to the Virgin. Legend has it that a thick white cloud descended on the battlefield, giving the Sienese cover and aiding their attack. The reality was that the Florentine army launched several fruitless attacks against the Sienese army during the day, then when the Sienese army countered with their own offensive, traitors within the Florentine army killed the standard bearer and in the resulting chaos, the Florentine army broke up and fled the battlefield. Almost half the Florentine army (some 15,000 men) were killed as a result. So crushing was the defeat that even today if the two cities meet in any sporting event, the Sienese supporters are likely to exhort their Florentine counterparts to “Remember Montaperti!”.
The historic centre dominated by the Duomo.
The limits on the Roman town, were the earliest known walls to the city. During the 10th and 11th centuries, the town grew to the east and later to the north, in what is now the Camollia district. Walls were built to totally surround the city, and a second set was finished by the end of the 13th century. Much of these walls still exist today.[4]
Siena's university, founded in 1240 and famed for its faculties of law and medicine, is still among the most important Italian universities. Siena rivalled Florence in the arts throughout the 13th and 14th centuries: the important late medieval painter Duccio di Buoninsegna (1253–1319) was a Sienese, but worked across the peninsula, and the mural of "Good Government" by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Palazzo Pubblico, or town hall, is a magnificent example of late-Medieval/early Renaissance art as well as a representation of the utopia of urban society as conceived during that period. Siena was devastated by the Black Death of 1348, and also suffered from ill-fated financial enterprises. In 1355, with the arrival of Charles IV of Luxembourg in the city, the population rose and suppressed the government of the Nove (Nine), establishing that Dodici (Twelve) nobles assisted by a council with a popular majority. This was also short-lived, being replaced by the Quindici (Fifteen) reformers in 1385, the Dieci (Ten, 1386–1387), Undici (Eleven, 1388–1398) and Twelve Priors (1398–1399) who, in the end, gave the city's seigniory to Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan in order to defend it from the Florentine expansionism.
In 1404 the Visconti were expelled and a government of Ten Priors established, in alliance with Florence against King Ladislaus of Naples. With the election of the Sienese Pius II as Pope, the Piccolomini and other noble families were allowed to return to the government, but after his death the control returned into popular hands. In 1472 the Republic founded the Monte dei Paschi, a bank that is still active today and is the oldest surviving bank in the world. The noble factions returned in the city under Pandolfo Petrucci in 1487, with the support of Florence and of Alfonso of Calabria; Petrucci exerted an effective rule on the city until his death in 1512, favouring arts and sciences, and defending it from Cesare Borgia. Pandolfo was succeeded by his son Borghese, who was ousted by his cousin Raffaello, helped by Pope Leo X. The last ruler in the Petrucci Dynasty was Fabio Petrucci|Fabio, who was exiled in 1523 by the Sienese people. Internal strife resumed, with the popular faction ousting the Noveschi party supported by Clement VII: the latter sent an army, but was defeated at Camollia in 1526. Emperor Charles V took advantage of the chaotic situation to put a Spanish garrison in Siena. The citizens expelled it in 1552, allying with France: this was unacceptable for Charles, who sent his general Gian Giacomo Medici to lay siege to it with a Florentine-Imperial army.
The Sienese government entrusted its defence to Piero Strozzi. When the latter was defeated at the Battle of Marciano (August 1554), any hope of relief was lost. After 18 months of resistance, it surrendered to Spain on 17 April 1555, marking the end of the Republic of Siena. The new Spanish King Philip, owing huge sums to the Medici, ceded it (apart a series of coastal fortress annexed to the State of Presidi) to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy in the 19th century. A Republican government of 700 Sienese families in Montalcino resisted until 1559.
The picturesque city remains an important cultural centre, especially for humanist disciplines.
Siena's cathedral (Duomo), begun in the 12th century, is one of the great examples of Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture. Its main façade was completed in 1380. It is unusual for a cathedral in that its axis runs north-south. This is because it was originally intended to be the largest cathedral in the world, with a north-south transept and an east-west nave, as is usual.[citation needed] After the completion of the transept and the building of the east wall (which still exists and may be climbed by the public via an internal staircase) the money ran out and the rest of the cathedral was abandoned.
Inside is the famous Gothic octagonal pulpit by Nicola Pisano (1266–1268) supported on lions, and the labyrinth inlaid in the flooring, traversed by penitents on their knees. Within the Sacristy are some perfectly preserved renaissance frescos by Domenico Ghirlandaio, and, beneath the Duomo, in the baptistry is the baptismal font with bas-reliefs by Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Jacopo della Quercia and other 15th century sculptors. The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo contains Duccio's famous Maestà (1308–1311) and various other works by Sienese masters. More Sienese paintings are to be found in the Pinacoteca, e.g. 13th century works by Diotisalvi di Speme.
The shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, the town square, which houses the Palazzo Pubblico and the Torre del Mangia, is another architectural treasure, and is famous for hosting the Palio horse race. The Palazzo Pubblico, itself a great work of architecture, houses yet another important art museum. Included within the museum is Ambrogio Lorenzetti's series of frescos on the good government and the results of good and bad government and also some of the finest frescoes of Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti.
On the Piazza Salimbeni is the Palazzo Salimbeni, a notable building and also the medieval headquarters of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, one of the oldest banks in continuous existence and a major player in the Sienese economy.
Housed in the notable Gothic Palazzo Chigi on Via di Città is the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena's conservatory of music.
Other churches in the city include:
The city's gardens include the Orto Botanico dell'Università di Siena, a botanical garden maintained by the University of Siena.
The Medicean Fortress houses the Enoteca Italiana and the Siena Jazz School, with courses and concerts all the year long and a major festival during the International Siena Jazz Masterclasses. Over two weeks more than 30 concerts and jam sessions are held in the two major town squares, on the terrace in front of the Enoteca, in the gardens of the Contrade clubs, and in numerous historical towns and villages of the Siena province. Siena is also home of Sessione Senese per la Musica e l'Arte (SSMA), a summer music program for musicians, is a fun/learning musical summer experience.
In the neighbourhood are numerous patrician villa, numerous of which attributed to Baldassarre Peruzzi:
- Villa Chigi
- Castle of Belcaro
- Villa Celsa
- Villa Cetinale
- Villa Volte Alte
Siena retains a ward-centric culture from medieval times. Each ward (contrada) is represented by an animal or mascot, and has its own boundary and distinct identity. Ward rivalries are most rampant during the annual horse race (Palio) in the Piazza del Campo.[5]
Main article:
Palio di SienaThe Palio di Siena is a traditional medieval horse race run around the Piazza del Campo twice each year, on 2 July and 16 August. The event is attended by large crowds, and is widely televised. Seventeen Contrade (which are city neighbourhoods originally formed as battalions for the city's defence) vie for the trophy: a painted banner, or Palio bearing an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. For each race a new Palio is commissioned by well-known artists and Palios won over many years can often be seen in the local Contrade museum. During each Palio period, the city is decked out in lamps and flags bearing the Contrade colours.
Ten of the seventeen Contrade run in each Palio: seven run by right (having not run in the previous year's corresponding Palio) together with three drawn by lot from the remaining ten. A horse is assigned to each by lot and is then guarded and cared for in the Contrade stable. The jockeys are paid huge sums and indeed there are often deals and bribes between jockeys or between "allied" Contrade committees to hinder other riders, especially those of 'enemy' Contrade. For the three days preceding the Palio itself, there are practice races. The horses are led from their stables through the city streets to the Campo, accompanied by crowds wearing Contrade scarves or tee-shirts and the air is filled with much singing and shouting.
Though often a brutal and dangerous competition for horse and bare-back rider alike, the city thrives on the pride this competition brings. The Palio is not simply a tourist event as a true Sienese regards this in an almost tribal way, with passions and rivalry similar to that found at a football 'Derby' match. In fact the Sienese are baptised twice, once in church and a second time in their own Contrade fountain. This loyalty is maintained through a Contrade 'social club' and regular events and charitable works. Indeed the night before the Palio the city is a mass of closed roads as each Contrade organises its own outdoor banquet, often for numbers in excess of 1,000 diners. On the day of the Palio itself the horses are accompanied by a spectacular display of drummers and flag twirlers dressed in traditional medieval costumes who first lead the horse and jockey to the Contrade parish church and then join a procession around the Piazza del Campo square. This traditional parade is called the Corteo Storico, which begins in the streets and concludes in the Piazza del Campo encircling the square. There are often long delays while the race marshall attempts to line up the horses, but once underway the Campo becomes a cauldron of wild emotion for the 3 minutes of the race.
This event is not without its controversy however, and recently, there have been complaints about the treatment of the horses and to the danger run by the riders. In order to better protect the horses, steps have been taken to make veterinary care more easily available during the main race. Also at the most dangerous corners of the course, cushions are used to help protect both the riders and horses.
Over the centuries, Siena has had a rich tradition of arts and artists. The list of artists from the Sienese School include Duccio di Boninsegna and his student Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti and Martino di Bartolomeo. A number of well known works of Renaissance and High Renaissance art still remain in galleries or churches in Siena.
The Church of San Domenico contains art by Guido da Siena, dating to mid-13th century. Duccio di Buoninsegna's Maestà which was commissioned by the City of Siena in 1308 was instrumental in leading Italian painting away from the hieratic representations of Byzantine art and directing it towards more direct presentations of reality. And his Madonna and Child with Saints polyptych, painted between 1311 and 1318 remains at the city's Pinacoteca Nazionale.
The Pinacoteca also includes several works by Domenico Beccafumi, as well as art by Lorenzo Lotto, Domenico di Bartolo and Fra Bartolomeo.
Siena has grown in importance because of its easy access to locally produced luxury goods in Tuscany and with such new independent fashion designers as Romana Correale.
The main activities are tourism, services, agriculture, handicrafts and light industry.
Agriculture constitutes Siena's primary industry. As of 2009, Siena's agricultural workforce comprises 919 companies with a total area of 10,755 km2 for a UAA (usable agricultural area) of 6,954 km2 or about 1/30 of the total municipal area (data ISTAT for the 2000 Agriculture Census V).
The industrial sector of the Sienese economy is not very developed. However, the area has seen recent growth in important core manufacturing enterprises.
The confectionery industry is one of the most important of the traditional sectors of the secondary industry, because of the many local specialties. Among the best known are Ricciarelli biscuits, made out of almond paste, and the well-known gingerbread, and thehorses. Also renowned is "Noto" a sweet made of honey, almonds and pepper. The area known for making these delicacies ranges between Tuscany and Umbria. Other seasonal specialties are the chestnut and the pan de 'Santi (or Pan co' Santi) traditionally prepared in the weeks preceding the Festival of Saints, the November 1. All are marketed both industrial and artisan bakeries in different cities.
The area has also seen a growth in biotechnology. Centenary Institute Sieroterapico Achille Sclavo, is now Swiss-owned and operates under the company name, Novartis Vaccines. Novartis produces vaccines and employs about a thousand people.
In this area, the most important financial activities are those related to the bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena.
There are also important appearances of the university and the hospital, which employ thousands of people and serves a catchment area much wider than the already large territory province. In the territory there is a dense network of micro-enterprises (less than 10,000) active in trade and tourism.
In the last ten years, Siena has been completely wired with fiber optic cable. This distinction makes Siena the first city in Italy to complete Telecom's Socrates Project (Progetto Socrate). As a result, the town can claim that almost every house is wired for cable. The wiring, built by private companies in partnership with the city, helped to create a civic public station (Channel Civic Sienese) cable that transmits information and local news and gives access to Internet broadband. In 2007, however, the station was privatized, separating the TV from the Internet. The wiring is currently extending to major centers of the province through another company set up ad hoc (earth cable).
The last few years have seen increased attention to biotechnology and research. As a consequence, local banking enterprises have focused on developing funding and supporting research and "startup" enterprises.
Siena has enjoyed a long tradition in sports. Basketball and football are perhaps the most popular in Siena. However, other sports such as rugby union and track-and-field are also practiced.
The Associazione Calcio Siena (football) was founded in 1904 and fully established in 1908. It has participated in the National Championship of Soccer in Serie "A" (The highest level of the Italian soccer leagues) since the 2003–2004 season. The A.C. Siena hosts its games at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
The premier society of men's basketball in Siena is called Mens Sana Basket (also referred to by its sponsored name of Montepaschi Siena). It is also the oldest sports society in Siena. Mens Sana Basket participates in the highest level of play in Italy, Lega Basket Serie A, and it has won the national championship six times, with a current streak of five (2004 and 2007–2011). The team host their home games at Palasport Mens Sana indoor arena.
As with most of Italy, football is very popular, and numerous amateur football teams have been formed. Tournaments for amateur football leagues are carried out during the winter.
Siena is home to several amateur basketball teams: these include the Associazione Sportiva Costone Basket and Virtus Siena.
There exist several female university sports teams organised under the CUS (Centro Universitario Sportivo.) These include such sports as fencing, volleyball and rugby.
The nearest international airports to Siena are Peretola Airport in Florence and Galileo Galilei International Airport in Pisa.
Siena can be reached by train from both Pisa and Florence, changing at Empoli. Siena railway station is located at the bottom of a long hill outside the city walls, and travellers with luggage should look for a taxi or bus (from the stop opposite the station).
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.
By road, Siena is linked to Florence by a "superstrada" (the Raccordo Autostradale RA03 – Siena-Firenze), a form of toll free autostrada. The superstrada to Florence is indicated on some road signs with the letters SI-FI, referring to province abbreviations. A continuation of the same four lane road to the south east is under construction and will, when completed, facilitate the drive towards Perugia and Rome.
Almost no traffic is permitted within the city centre. Several large car parks are located immediately outside the city walls. The "La Fortezza" car park is closest to the centre, and is free of charge. Commercial traffic is permitted within the city only during morning hours.
Siena is twinned with:
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