Siena
Siena is the quintessential Tuscan hilltop town, with its rich history in banking, art, cuisine, gothic architecture and its historic UNESCO world heritage city center.
The area around Siena was first settled during the Etruscan period (900-400 BC) by an Etruscan subtribe called the Saina.
The town itself traces its beginnings to a Roman garrison stationed there by Emperor Augustus.
Local legend claims that Siena was founded by two sons of Remus, the brother of Romulus, the founder of Rome. Allegedly Remus’ sons, Senius and Aschius, fled Rome for the safety of Sienna, and thus the symbol of the “she-wolf” breastfeeding two infants was appropriated by Sienna. Senius and Aschius allegedly traveled to Siena on a white and black horse, which explains Siena’s coat of arms, which is a simple white bar atop a black one.
After the fall of Rome, the Canossa family (famous from Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa’s “walk to Canossa”) attained feudal control of the area around Siena. This dynasty died out in 1115, and as in many other northern Italian regions, a republican city state emerged under the control of various powerful families.
Culturally, Siena flourished during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. In 1240 the University of Siena was founded, making it one of the oldest continuously operating universities in the world. Siena produced notable artists such as Duccio di Buoninsegna and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. In the 1330’s, Lorenzetti painted the magnificent fresco “The City at Peace”, putting human endeavor and accomplishment in this life at the center of his work, and thus leading the world from the medieval into the renaissance world in intellectual as well as artistic terms. These artists, along with architects and scholars, contributed to the city's rich artistic and intellectual heritage.
Siena's distinctive Gothic architecture is exemplified by the iconic Duomo di Siena and the Palazzo Pubblico. In 1348, right before the advent of the Black Death, Siena counted 50,000 inhabitants.
The Monte dei Pascho Bank started operating in Siena in 1472, making it the oldest continuously operating bank in the world.
For most of its’ history the Republic of Siena was embroiled in strife with its neighbors, particularly Florence. In 1555 Siena finally capitulated to a joint imperial Spanish and Florentine army, and Siena fell under the domain of the Medici. Interestingly, the Medici never integrated their territories, and Siena retained its separate tax and legal code. This explains a lot of the current regionalism and identity. Siena always remained its own entity.
Following the death of the last heirless Medici in 1737, the city fell to the house of Habsburg- Lothringen, and became a part of the Habsburg empire, where it remained, with interruption, until the Risorgimento. In 1859 Siena was the first town in Tuscany to vote in favor of joining the Kingdom of Italy. Perhaps historical ties to Rome played a role in these events.
Siena’s current automobile-free status in the medieval city center traces its roots to a vote in 1966 to ban cars from the city center. Perhaps Siena has always been ahead of its times.
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