Gorgeous Gothic Siena

A travel guide to the Tuscan hilltown of Siena

SIENA 101
Information
www.siena.turismo.toscana.it
Where to stay
Hotel Cannon d'Oro
Hotel Antica Torre
Hotel Duomo
Hotel Chiusarelli
» More hotels in Siena (from €64)
» B&Bs in Siena (from €45)
» Apartments in Siena (from €50)

Siena is a city in hilltown clothing. Its Gothic brick palazzi and marble Baroque church facades are splayed along three ridge tops centered along a trio of (usually) car-free boulevards: shopping drag Via Banchi di Sopra, touristy Via di Città, and quiet Via Banchi di Sotto.

The three meet just outside Siena's lovely main square,

Piazza del Campo

—often called just Il Campo—a sloping scallop shell of herringbone brick where people picnic, nap, and celebrate soccer victories.

Anchoring the base is the crenellated 13th century town hall, the

Palazzo Pubblico/Museo Civico,

well worth the admission to admire its public spaces frescoed with Sienese Gothic masterpieces. These include

Simone Martini's courtly early Maestà

(Madonna in Majesty) and richly patterned Guidoriccio.

Ambrogio Lorenzetti's seminal Allegory of Good and Bad Government and its Effects on the Town And Countryside,

packed with scenes of 14th century daily life and perhaps the most important secular painting from medieval Europe, decorates the chamber of the old ruling Council of Nine to remind them of effects of their government.

The bulky, zebra-striped Gothic

Duomo (Cathedral)

is free except August 23 to October 2, when the stunning patchwork of inlaid and etched

marble panels carpeting the floor

are uncovered. Otherwise, a few panels are always left visible, and most of the Cathedral is free (save the

Libreria Piccolomini,

lushly frescoed by Pinturricchio and his young assistant Raphael). At the Duomo's crossing are a chapel by baroque master Bernini and a densely-carved

pulpit

by Gothic geniuses Nicola and Giovanni Pisano.

The

Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana

is installed in the thick wall of what was to have been the nave of a massively expanded cathedral, an ambitious project halted when the Black Death claimed three-quarters of the population. In addition to

Duccio's glittering Gothic Maestà

altarpiece, the museum gives access to a narrow terrace with a sweeping panorama of the city and countryside.

The

Casa di Santa Caterina

is a quiet, cloistered church and memorial of baroque paintings built around the birthplace of medieval mystic and stateswoman St. Catharine of Siena, patroness of Italy. Her letters and 1378 ambassadorship to Gregory XII in Avignon were crucial in convincing him to return the papacy from France to Rome. Just above, enormous

San Domenico

church preserves her shriveled head and finger in a Renaissance chapel frescoed by Sodoma.

The brick vaults under the massive 16th century Medici fortress, once a symbol of Florence's dominance, now host the

Enoteca Italian Permanente,

a sort of national wine museum where you can sample Italy's best vintages for a Euro or two per glass.

Siena boasts many more sights and museums, but most (save the churches) charge admission. The city offers a multitude of

cumulative tickets

for various grab-bags of sights. For more information, visit www.siena.turismo.toscana.it.

Where to Stay in Siena

Amazingly, one of the best hotel deals is on the main drag,

Cannon d'Oro,

where the big rooms mix some nice antiques with the functional pieces (Via Montanini 28, tel. 0577-44-321, www.cannondoro.com; from €99 online). This is usually the first place in town I call when I need a room. I even put my entire Boy Scout troop up here during our big European trip in the summer of 2000.

Tiny

Hotel Bernini

is a home away from home. The nine guest rooms are fitted with a rummage sale of antiques set on patterned tile floors, and are separated from the family's half of the apartment only by a curtain. Nadia will let you onto their roof terrace overlooking St. Catherine's house, and Mauro often serenades guests with his accordion (Via della Sapienza 15, 0577-289-047, www.albergobernini.com, from €82 with bath, from €62 without bath).

The Landolfo family's

Hotel Antica Torre

fills a 16th-century tower, which means the beamed-ceilinged rooms can be a bit snug, but all feel cozier than small, and those on the upper floors are a bit larger plus enjoy better views across roof tiles to green fields beyond. A travertine stairway, lacy curtains and cotta floors in the rooms, and its location in a quiet residential neighborhood 9wtill only aq ten-minute walk from Il Campo) combine to make this a worthy moderate splurge (Via di Fieravacchia 7, 0577-222-255, www.anticatorresiena.it; from €120 online).

A bit institutional but remarkably cheap,

Alma Domus

is run by nuns who unfortunately insist upon an 11:30pm curfew. The basic rooms lack amenities save A/C in a few, and the phones can only receive calls (though this may change). The best have balconies overlooking the striped Duomo across a wide gully (Via Camporeggio 31, 0577-44-177, from €55).

Two royal palms guard the neoclassical 19th-century façade of the villa-turned-hotel

Chiusarelli

near San Domenico. Perhaps the best feature of this modernized hotel, especially for those traveling by public transport, is that it's just a bock from the bus terminus, yet still only about 15 minutes stroll from Il Campo along one of Siena's main shopping streets. The road does allow cars, so request a room on the back for optimum quiet--unless you'll be here on a Sunday. The back overlooks the local soccer stadium; bring binoculars for prime, freebie seats for the games (Viale Curtatone, Tel. 0577-280-562, www.chiusarelli.com, from €122 online).

The

Hotel Duomo

is aptly named, lying just south of the cathedral—halfway between the Campo and the Duomo, in fact—in a 12th-century palazzo that were army barracks in the Middle Ages. That said, the only touches of antiquity remaining are a Renaissance staircase and the brick basement breakfast room. Rooms are modern, functional, and carpeted. Definitely request one of the 12 “panoramic” rooms with Cathedral views (Via Stalloreggi 34–38, Tel. 0577-289-088, www.hotelduomo.it, from €150 online).

For more hotels in Siena, click here.

Where to Eat in Siena

Next-door to St. Catherine's house, the brick floor of cozy "the chatterbox"

Osteria La Chiacchera

is scattered with little wood tables packed with locals. Desserts are stupendous (Costa di Sant’Antonio 4, 0577-280-631).

Even though it's just two doors off Siena's main square, tourists haven't discovered down-home trattoria

La Torre

, its kitchen open to the dining room and turning out homemade pastas and traditional Tuscan dishes (Via Salicotto 7-9, 0577-287-548).

Simone Romi's service makes the single room of

Castelvecchio

feel intimate, and Mauro Lombardini’s skill in the kitchen brings forth a daily menu of creative Tuscan cuisine based in the freshest ingredients. This classy level of taste, atmosphere, and service usually costs three times as much (Via Castelvecchio 65, 0577-49-586).

How to Get to Siena

Siena's train station

(on a direct train line from Florence; from Rome, switch at Chiusi/Chianciano Terme) is two miles outside town, requiring a city bus to run you up to the center.

For once,

taking a bus from Florence makes more sense,

as they tend to be more frequent, slightly faster, and stop up in town. There are also a half dozen

daily buses from Rome’s

Tiburtina station.

Siena's bus station

is on Piazza San Domenico, the ticket office under the church's right flank.

[Parts of this were excerpted from my article "Twice the Tuscany, Half the Cost," originally published in the September 2002 issue of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine. All information was updated in September 2006. Reprinted with persmission.]