Siena

TeenageKicks

Hello

Has anyone been there? Can you tell me a bit about it?

raemie21

hey, yeah three of us girls spent five weeks in italy two years ago. Siena is lovely, it's like a mini-Florence but less crowded & more charm I think. It's very medieval, lots of old town planning and no transport allowed in the city centre. We visited it on a day trip from Florence, that was probably enough to be honest - however, we were lucky enough to co-ordinate our visit with the 'Il Palio' race - chekc it up on the net, it's a horse race that takes place every July 2nd & August 16th - each city district has a horse representing them & ten are chosen to take part. It's MASSIVE there, seriously like thousands and thousands of people cram into the piazza and it's this manic experience. the race itself only lasts about 100 seconds but it's such high intensity, kinda dangerous too but one of those cool experiences. We had to run go get our train home after the race & had to go against the crowd, we met the winning horse and his team and grown men were just bawling their eyes out in the streets, loads of flags and such a great, great atmosphere! The whole pre-race ceremony itself has lots of medieval events, music, oxen pulling trailers and all the crew are dressed up in old clothes, very cool. Apart from a general stroll aorund the city earlier on that day, there's surely another museum you could visit and a few old churches etc. But it's the horse race that is the biggest attraction, even Daniel Craig was spotted hanging out one of the balconies last year having a look!
So if you're planning to be around italy, then def include it in your scedule, esp if you're there on those two dates!

abelard

Again, I only headed out on a day trip from Florence but it's a lovely little town. While I missed the horse race, I caught the celebratory parades of the various districts of the town, which happens about a week after the parades. Each district has its own colours, and groups from each district dressed in their coulours would march through the town, stopping at various places to wave and throw their giant flags. Then they all gather together in the main piazza at the end for a celebration.

Otherwise, it's still a charming little town, though I don't know if there's much to see beyond a day trip. The architecture is nice, and feels a bit more "authentic" than any of the cities due to the small winding pedestrian streets. Climb the tower in the main piazza for a great view out over the Tuscan countryside.