Siena
Historical Background

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It would have been much too easy to have built a city on a plain, and the builders of many Tuscan cities have always been known for enjoying a challenge. In keeping with this tradition, Siena originated on three hills, on land full of orchards and gardens, and provided tough construction work for even the most ingenious builders. These three hills, bordered by the Elsa and the Arbia, marked out the original three sections of the city. These three sections, Di Città, San Martino, and Camollia, were later joined by over 50 districts, which have now been concentrated into 17.

There are several different stories about the foundation of the city. Though originally an Etruscan settlement, it may have long been under the rule of a Gaulish tribe named the Saenones. Others maintain that it was Senio, the son of Remus, who was the founder of the city. The discussion is by now somewhat old and tired, and yet it still monopolizes the conversations here. There is no doubt, however, that the city is of Etruscan origin, and was a part of the Roman Empire under Augustus. Lombards governed the city during the Dark Ages and they were later succeeded by Frankish counts. This state of affairs continued on into the next millennium, when, faced with such a cumbersome Guelph neighbor as Florence, Siena chose to lay its loyalty with rivaling Ghibelline forces. Siena was Ghibelline of sorts until 1186 when it was besieged by imperial forces, but fortunately this rule did not last long and soon the city returned to its former state. The years between 1235 and 1236 were a turning point for the city, as Florence imposed a difficult peace-treaty upon Siena who lost possession of Poggibonsi and Montalcino. Times were also changing on a domestic level, when the nobility were forced to accept a city ruled by a council made up of both noblemen and merchants. In 1260, Siena enjoyed military revenge over Florence at the battle of Montaperti, after which they humiliated the flag of Florence by leading it around the city on a donkey.

Unfortunately, this act of vengeful defiance was to be one of Siena's last, as the fortunes of the empire were in decline. A papal excommunication as a result of the city's Ghibelline allegiance threw off the entire economy, as it legally prevented debtors from paying their dues into Sienese banks. The city was then defeated at Monteriggioni on June 11, 1269 and was facing both military and political defeat as the Ghibelline leader Provenzano Salvani died. A new Guelph city government allied to Florence was formed, and despite the change, this new administration worked better than expected. This was a time of great commercial expansion, artistic exploration, and civic virtue; however, the good times couldn’t last forever, and in 1326, there was a period of economic decline, which was in turn followed by the plague in 1348. At this time, the Ghibellines regained power and took over the government alongside Charles IV. Finally, out of desperation, the city came under the control of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, until his death three years later.

These trials and tribulations were hardly isolated in central Italy towards the end of the middle ages. Both from a military and political point of view, the Golden Age saw more flashes of iron and steel weapons than the metal itself. However, one thing is certain: the people who hail from Siena come from a land that has been fed and watered with the blood of its people. In 1530, King Carlo V hurled himself into the fray, and created his own government, but after 20 years a rebellion exploded and the imperialists were hounded out. After an impromptu agreement made with their rival Florence, which neither worked nor lasted, the battle came to a head in 1553, and during the two year siege that followed, the defenders of Siena lived on insects and mice.

The beginning of the so-called "Iron Century" coincided with the end of the cultural age of art and literature, which in the course of a century had seen the likes of Machiavelli, Leonardo, Raffaello, Carpaccio, Crivelli, Bosch, Lotto, Titian, Piero della Francesca, Pontormo, Palladio, Tintoretto, the Della Robbia, Parmigianino and Dürer. The authority of Siena then fell to the Medici clan, was subsequently handed over to the Lorena family, and finally came under the rule of the Savoy dynasty based in Turin. The rest, as they say, is history.