Visiting Siena – 6 Things You’ll Want to See and Do

by ShegoWandering
|
December 9, 2021 | 4 min read

Visiting Siena – 6 Things You’ll Want to See and Do

Siena was one of the top items on my bucket list.

Since I’m obsessed with destination and travel movies, when I’ve first seen the Letters to Juliet, Verona, and Siena got straight to the top of the list.

The more I travel in Italy, the more I want to see. My obsession with this country started 4 years ago when I first visited Rome. Since then, I’m over 13 visits and 15 cities/towns. I’m actually planning at the moment some longer stays for the next year, to discover more.

After 3 visits to Tuscany, I have to say, there’s no other place in the world like this! If it comes to Siena, I would just say, that if you have the chance, don’t ever consider to miss to visit it!

We’ve been with my friend in March, and we got a beautiful sunny day at 21 ° C. Perfect for wandering around.

Wandering around in the old town

Wandering around in Siena’s old town is a unique experience on its own. If there wouldn’t be anything else to see, this would still be something I would go to Siena for. Siena’s streets have a unique medieval face, having a bit of the renaissance, a bit of baroque and a lot of gothic stunning pieces of architecture around.

Piazza del Campo

This is the place you WANT TO SEE THE MOST in Siena. De Piazza del Campo is one of Europe’s most fascinating medieval squares. The shell-shaped Piazza is surrounded by the palazzi Signorelli and on the bottom side, you’ll find the Palazzo Pubblico and Torre del Mangia, which is dominating the whole square.

One of my favorite things in here was that everyone was sitting on the brick shape ground of the piazza (everyone on the sunny side obviously). People were just sitting, chatting, admiring the Palazzo Pubblico and we’ve even seen families eating out there. It’s something very unique to see in a town square.

The other important piece of architecture it’s important to notice here is the Gaia Fountain, which is easy to spot as it’s facing the palazzo.

Palazzo Pubblico and the Tower of Mangia

The medieval palace called Palazzo Pubblico, the town hall, as I’ve mentioned before, it’s the dominant building on Piazza del Campo. The construction of this medieval building started in the 13th century. By the architectural facts, it’s important to mention the Gothic influence. Inside, nearly every room is decorated by frescoes that you can explore. If you feel like it, you can also climb up in the Tower of Mangia and have an unforgettable view on Tuscany.

Duomo di Siena

The medieval church is dedicated to Santa Maria in Assunta. For me, this place was a MUST SEE because I’m in love with Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s work. – If you feel like this name is so familiar, but you can’t remember from when/where, if you’ve seen/read Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons, you have the answer. So, the lantern atop the dome was added to the medieval church by Bernini.

Eating out

The square is surrounded by restaurants. It’s honestly the hardest thing to choose between them because all you want basically is to have the best view on the Palazzo Pubblico. Believe me, I went with my list for the options I checked in advance on TripAdvisor, and because when we’ve got there, none of those restaurants had a great view, I rather just went with another one and had my lunch with the best view possible.

Shops

Via di Citta is one of the streets where we’ve found the most beautiful shops with different goodies. You can run into some major luxury boutiques as well as local stores. If you’re looking for some colorful Italian ceramics, you’ll definitely have plenty of options here, as well as Truffle craft shop, butcher and cheese stores, gelato shops and so much more. Go and explore!

Siena is the place where the magic happens. It’s not just the movies where you see love stories about this place. There are true stories happening every day. That being a reason why Siena is a very popular destination for couples, families and it’s also a major honeymoon destination in Tuscany.


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Hi! I'm Helga Dosa, from the ShegoWandering Travel Blog. I’m a writer, photographer and online entrepreneur based in England. As a professional, I’m a Historian, who turned her passion to explore, and the knowledge gained about the past into articles about the present. I have a great love for the sun, and warm, colourful places, and my main focus is on Italy and Spain.

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