SIENA ACCOMMODATION
Siena would have to be one of the most popular enchanting , small towns in Italy. It has everything a tourist could want – a hilltop view to die for, medieval walls, moats, history , art, and Il Palio – a amazing horse race around its shell shaped piazza. It is small enough to walk around in a morning and has beautiful shops as well as a university attracting the young.
Siena is an hour from Florence and makes for a great base to explore Tuscany if you wish to stay in a small town. The city’s reddish-brown soil, rich in ferric oxide deposits, gave its name to the pigment ‘burnt Siena’, so beloved by the great master painters, notably Giovanni Pisano. Their works can be seen today in several of the city’s galleries.
Book way ahead with Passion for Italy Travel - at least eight months, if you wish to attend Il Palio, italy’s famous horse race occurring on two dates, 2 July and 16 August, where the fiercely competitive 17 districts – Contrada, vie to have their horse win. Over 100,000 people cram into a very small area - the Piazza del Campo and all the locals dress in their historic costumes representing their contrada. It is a great cultural experience.
IN SIENA WE RECOMMEND
Should you be brave enough to climb the hundreds of spiral steps to the top of the bell tower of the Palazzo Comunale , the view is worth a thousand photos over the verdant rolling hills.
Stay at one of our beautiful villas in the country and make day trips to the city. Make sure you remember which ‘Porta” – town gate you enter Siena by, as there are many and it is easy to lose direction as the city is oval shaped on top of the hill.
Walk to some great restaurants at night and sit in the Piazza del Campo people watching for an aperativ at sunset.
Take one of our wonderful Day Tours in Tuscany to see all the little medieval hilltop villages in the Val d'Orcia and near Montalcino.
GETTING THERE AND AROUND
Train – the railway station is 2km from the historic centre, 5 minutes by bus.
Bus – inter-city buses arrive/depart Piazza Antonio Gramsci, a block from the pedestrian zone.
Car – parking is not permitted in the historic centre – click here to view the map for parking information. Make a note of which Porta (gate) you enter the city as by the end of the day it can be easy to forget.
| Siena is located in Tuscany, in the centre of Italy. | 
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