Elevated view of the beautiful medieval city of Siena, Tuscany, Italy featuring the Torre del Mangia and the Piazza del Campo, where locals and tourists relax at the pavement cafes.
I had been keen to visit Siena for a long time, so was very happy that it was such an easy side trip on a bus from Florence. And the city didn’t disappoint: the people in medieval times certainly knew how to make beautiful buildings which would last. Can’t always say that nowadays!
Siena is an outstanding medieval city that has preserved its character and quality to a remarkable degree. The city had substantial influence on art, architecture and town planning during the Middle Ages, both in Italy and elsewhere in Europe. The city is a masterwork of dedication and inventiveness in which the buildings have been designed to fit into the overall planned urban fabric and also to form a whole with the surrounding cultural landscape.
Unesco World Heritage Site listing
The city was built between three hills, with a road from each leading down to the valley which is now the Piazza del Campo, where the Palio horse race, between contestants from each area of the city, had an unbroken run until Covid-19 caused the two annual races to be cancelled in 2020.
The Centro Storico is surrounded by a seven kilometre fortified wall, with bastions, towers, gates and a fort.
The 14th century Torre de Mangia (102m) was the second tallest secular tower in medieval Italy. It was built to be exactly the same height as the nearby cathedral’s campanile to show that Church and State had equal power.
This image is copyright © Liz Leyden. All rights strictly as agreed in writing with the author or her agent.
The image is available for sale as wall art or as various home or personal accessories from Pixels.com.
My original photo of the Piazza del Campo, is available to purchase as a stock photo from my portfolio at Alamy.
