Self-contained and still part-rural behind its medieval walls, Siena's great attraction is its cityscape, a majestic Gothic ensemble that could be enjoyed without venturing into a single museum. The physical and spiritual heart of the city is the great scallop-shaped piazza il Campo , loveliest of all Italian squares and scene of the thrilling Palio bareback horse-race. Siena's Duomo and Palazzo Pubblico are two of the purest examples of Italian Gothic architecture, and the best of the city's paintings - collected in the Museo Civico and Pinacoteca Nazionale - are in the same tradition; the finest example of Sienese Gothic is Duccio's MaestA  , on show in the outstanding Museo dell'Opera del Duomo . More frescoes fill the halls of Santa Maria della Scala , the city's hospital for over 900 years and now its premier exhibition space.

For a hundred years or so, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Siena was one of the major cities of Europe. Virtually the size of Paris, it controlled most of southern Tuscany and its wool industry, dominated the trade routes between France and Rome, and maintained Italy's richest pre-Medici banks. This era reached an apotheosis with the defeat of a much superior Florentine army at the battle of Montaperti in 1260. Although the result was reversed permanently nine years later, Siena embarked on an unrivalled urban development under the guidance of its mercantile governors, the Council of Nine . From 1287 to 1355 the city underwrote the completion of its cathedral and then the Campo and its exuberant Palazzo Pubblico . The prosperity came to an abrupt halt with the Black Death , which reached Siena in May 1348; by October, two-thirds of the 100,000 population had died. The city never fully recovered (the population today is 60,000) and its politics, always factional, descended into chaos. In 1557 Philip II gave up Siena to Cosimo de' Medici in lieu of war services, and the city subsequently became part of Cosimo's Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and fell into decline. The lack of subsequent development explains Siena's astonishing state of preservation: little was built and still less demolished. Since World War II, Siena has again become prosperous, due partly to tourism and partly to the resurgence of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena . This bank, founded in Siena in 1472 and currently the city's largest employer, is one of the major players in Italian finance. It today sponsors much of Siena's cultural life, co-existing, apparently easily, with one of Italy's strongest left-wing councils.

The most popular trip from Siena is northwest to the picturesque multi-towered village of San Gimignano . Far fewer people take the trouble to sample the ancient Etruscan town of Volterra , a highly rewarding stop en route west from Siena to Pisa.