---
node: dest_siena
type: destination
slug: siena
title: "Siena"
lead: "Siena is a medieval Tuscan hill city built of warm red brick around a great shell-shaped square. Home to the twice-yearly Palio horse race, it keeps its Gothic streets and skyline almost untouched by the modern world."
published: 2026-08-10
updated: 2026-08-10
image_file: siena.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Piazza_del_Campo_2014_01.jpg"
image_author: "Perituss"
image_license: "CC0"
---

## Overview

A rival of Florence in the Middle Ages, Siena froze at the height of its Gothic glory after plague and defeat, and its brick-red centre is now a World Heritage site little changed in six hundred years. The city fans out from the Piazza del Campo, the sloping square where the Palio is run, and climbs to a striped marble cathedral on the hill. It is compact and walkable, still divided into the seventeen contrade, or neighbourhoods, whose rivalry drives the race.

## Highlights

The Piazza del Campo, one of Europe's finest squares, curves below the Palazzo Pubblico and its tall Torre del Mangia, climbed for the view. The black-and-white striped Duomo is among the great Gothic cathedrals of Italy, with a carved pulpit and marble floors. Twice each summer the Palio fills the Campo with horses and colour, and the contrade streets reward a wander any day.