Siena, Florence's Beautiful Historic Enemy

From an historic point of view – although previous events indicate that the site was first settled at the time of the Etruscans -  the city was founded by Emperor Augustus in the 1st century BC and named Sena Julia. There are no significant documents from the Dark Ages; however, we know that Siena flourished under the Lombard kings and soon gained extreme importance due to its position along the Via Francigena. Around the 12th century, the city's power grew along its rivalry with nearby Florence and this led to a series of wars between Guelph Florence (which was sympathetic to the papacy) and Ghibelline Siena (which was sympathetic to the Holy Roman Empire). The Battle of Montaperti (1260) saw the defeat of the Florentine troops; however, Florence got its revenge against Siena at the Battle of Colle Val d'Elsa (1269). Siena turned Guelph and enjoyed great prosperity under the Council of Nine; it was this bourgeois group that directed the construction of so many of the famous buildings in the Sienese-Gothic style that give the city its stunning appearance (e.g. the Cathedral, the Public Palace and the Piazza del Campo). The events that led to the decline of the city (1555) were the collapse of the Bonsignori Bank, the famine and the Black Death. In 1557, King Philip II of Spain ceded Siena to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to which the city belonged until the Italian Unification.

Because the city's building activity was largely interrupted in the 16th century, Siena remains essentially a Medieval city, recognizable among thousands. Famous worldwide for its artistic, historic and cultural heritage, it was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1995.