- When to go
- October 16° · 8 rainy days
- Per day
- €€€€price 4 of 5
- How many days
- 1–2days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 55 km Florence · 86 km Pisa
- Right now
Siena is a city of seventeen contrade, districts with their own borders, colours and churches, ten of which race horses around the Piazza del Campo twice a year. Florence is an hour and a quarter away by bus, so a day trip is easy, but only a night here leaves enough time for the Val d'Orcia and three wine areas without racing back for the last bus.
The Palio is run on 2 July and 16 August: three laps of the Campo, usually in under ninety seconds. Ten contrade take part — the seven that sat out the same race the year before and three drawn by lot — and the winner is the first horse across the line, even one that has thrown its jockey. The middle of the square is free for spectators, but people go in hours ahead, and once the ceremonies begin the police close the entrances. The only other places are the stands and windows around the square, sold in advance.
From Florence the bus beats the train, which is rare in Italy. The direct 131R runs from the coach station by Santa Maria Novella to Via Tozzi, on the edge of the old town, in an hour and a quarter; the train takes an hour and a half or more, and from the station in the valley you ride escalators up to the walls. Inside the town everything is on foot, uphill and down, and you only need a car for the hills to the south.
Guides for Siena
Shorter, practical pages for one concrete question each — how many days, how much money, where to sleep, where to escape the city.
Siena in 1 day
→The cathedral at 10 on a pass that takes about 2 h, the Palazzo Pubblico and the tower after lunch — and the other way…
Day trips from Siena
→Monteriggioni is twenty-odd minutes by bus, San Gimignano a full day with no changes, Montepulciano a train plus a…
Where to stay in Siena
→Siena doesn't have neighbourhoods the way larger cities do — it has three terzi that meet at the Campo, and what…
Siena beyond the Campo: a saint's head, a fortress and a city full of students
→A saint's head brought without permission, a house turned into a shrine, a fortress built to guard the city from…
What to eat in Siena
→Siena's cooking is peasant food and that is the point — eggless pasta, game instead of steak, and a cake made since the…
The best time to visit Siena
→A 30°C summer with two Palios, an autumn wetter than the winter, and a cathedral floor uncovered on a calendar of its…
What to see in Siena
Piazza del Campo and the Torre del Mangia
A shell-shaped square whose white travertine lines cut the paving into nine segments, for the Nine who governed the city from 1287 to 1355. Above it rises the Torre del Mangia, eighty-eight metres and about four hundred steps. Entry is €10 with no booking, but only twenty-five people go up every forty-five minutes, so in summer there's a queue.
€10
The Duomo, its floor and the Piccolomini Library
The cathedral's marble floor spends most of the year under boards and is only uncovered in periods the Opera announces each year; then the OPA SI Pass is €16 instead of €14. The pass lasts three days and, besides the cathedral, covers the crypt, the baptistery, the Museo dell'Opera and the Piccolomini Library, which Pinturicchio painted between 1502 and 1507 with scenes from the life of Pope Pius II. The roof is a separate ticket.
€14 · about 2 h
The Facciatone
The wall of a cathedral that, from 1339, was meant to swallow the present one and double its size. The plague of 1348 stopped the work, and in 1355 it was abandoned. Narrow stairs from the Museo dell'Opera lead to the top, on the same pass, and it gives you the Campo from above without the tower queue.
€14
The contrade
Seventeen districts, each with its own museum, church, fountain and baptismal font, colours, allies and enemies; the Aquila and the Pantera, for one, have been at odds since 1947. The borders are marked on street corners, so you cross from one to the next just by turning off the main axis.
free
Santa Maria della Scala
Facing the cathedral, a hospital documented from 1090 that kept working until 1995, when it became a museum. In the Pellegrinaio, the pilgrims' hall, Domenico di Bartolo's frescoes show daily life on the wards, and the building also holds Jacopo della Quercia's original sculptures from the Fonte Gaia — the fountain on the Campo is a copy.
€9 · closed Tuesday, only 1 Nov–14 Mar · booking: recommended
The Val d'Orcia and three wines
Montalcino is thirty-two kilometres south in a straight line, San Quirico thirty-six, Pienza thirty-nine and Montepulciano forty-four. Pienza is the birthplace of Pius II, who rebuilt it as a Renaissance town from 1459; the valley was added to the UNESCO list in 2004. Brunello comes from Montalcino, Vino Nobile from Montepulciano, and Chianti begins north of the city. This loop doesn't work without a car.
free (the valley); tastings are paid separately per winery
Stories from Siena
How it actually was when we were there, and what was worth it.
The Palio in Siena: ninety seconds that stop the city twice
→The race lasts under ninety seconds and the entire day belongs to it. Turn up unprepared and you stand all day for a minute and a half you barely see.
Two things you probably did not know
The Palio is run twice a year on earth spread over the stone of the main square, and lasts about ninety seconds. A horse wins even without its rider if it crosses the line first, and the city districts prepare for it all year.
The floor of Siena cathedral is a puzzle of fifty-six marble panels that craftsmen worked on for over two hundred years. It is covered for most of the year and uncovered for a few weeks, usually in late summer and autumn.
Ready for Siena?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Siena — day trips or weekends.
Italy
→The cities on the high-speed line are an hour or two apart; the coast, Matera and the Tuscan hills lie off it
France
→From Paris the TGV reaches Lyon, Bordeaux and Strasbourg in about two hours — France is chosen by direction, not by city
Spain
→A country where dinner is at ten and the city wakes up as everywhere else turns the lights off
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
Within reach from here: San Gimignano, Val d'Orcia and Florence
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Siena if you have been.
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