In this section: Florence | Siena
Florence and Siena are two of the most beautiful cities in the world. Located at opposite ends of the Chianti region of Tuscany, they have a long and chequered history, much of it spent as bitter rivals. Even today, Italians see the two cities are male and female counterparts.
Florence was the cradle of the Renaissance and is bursting with outstanding sites. It is “boldly horizontal” with few tall buildings while Siena is “soaringly vertical” with many towers. While Florence has large squares and huge statutes, Siena has hidden gardens and romance. While Florentine art has perspective and innovation, Sienese art is sensitive and conservative.
Florence is simply one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The view from the elevated Piazza Michelangelo on the south-east of the city shows the city in all its glory. The skyline is dominated by the Duomo (the cathedral) with the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio close by and the River Arno to the left. This is the scene famously drawn by Hannibal Lector in his cell in “The Silence of the Lambs”. Jonathan and Linda have loved Florence since their honeymoon there in 1988!
The city holds some of the finest art architectural treasures of the Renaissance, with the Uffuzi Gallery adjoining the Palazzo Vecchio being one of the greatest art collections in the world. Among the most famous works are Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus in which Venus appears standing in a half shell and works by Michelangelo, Titian and Fra Lippi. The museum is arranged chronologically in a huge U-shape so the development of renaissance art can be clearly seen. It is usually best to buy a ticket for a set time on a later day rather than join the huge queues on any given day. Elsewhere in the city is the Galleria dell’Accademia which contains Michelangelo’s famous statue of David
The Duomo is an enormous building capable of holding 20,000 people and is an amazing sight to come to as it is located in a small square and the streets approaching it are very narrow – suddenly it is just there in front of you. It is relatively empty inside, with most of its treasures located in the museum next door – including works by Michelangelo. If you have a head for heights, you can ascend to the gallery of the dome, which can be pretty scary as the balustrade is quite low, and from there climb up through the curving roof of the dome to the very top of the dome from which the views are amazing, as you might expect.
Another highlight is the Ponte Vecchio the spans the River Arno in the centre of the city. This is an extraordinary structure with dozens of tiny shops on it, some of which are attached, somewhat precariously, to the sides of the bridge. Today, most of the shops are jewellery stores
The history of Florence is closely tied to that of the Medici family who dominated the politics of Tuscany for 300 years. Originally bankers, the Medici courted the Catholic Church and prospered greatly from this link. Cosimo Medici spent a fortune on endowing Florence with public buildings, many of which remain in place today and the Medici Palace, in particular, is another must-see sight. The family’s political methods were famously immortalised in Machiavelli’s The Prince, an admiring account of their ruthless methods. The Medici line ended in 1743 when Princess Lodovica died, bequeathing the city all of the Medici Palaces and gardens together with their art collection which today forms the foundation of the Uffuzi gallery’s collections.
And, as you might expect, the numerous shops in Florence offer the very best Italian products – clothes, shoes, leather goods, etc.
Siena is to the south of Florence across the Tuscan countryside and is considered by many to be the perfect counterpart to Florence. Indeed in Italy, Siena is often viewed as the feminine foil to Florence’s masculinity. Draped across three hills, it is a flamboyant collection of palaces and towers, its medieval character virtually untouched within its tall city walls. Indeed the city might be seen as being obsessed with conservation, still applying stringent medieval building regulations to protect the inner fabric of the city.
The city centre is made up a numerous narrow brick streets and steep alleyways – all of which eventually lead to the magnificent city square, the shell-like Piazza del Campo. This has the Palazzo Pubblico on one side with its famous tower, the slender Torre del Mangia that you can walk to the top of, if you have a good head for heights.
The Piazza is the scene of the famous Palio horse race held in Early July and mid-August every year since the mid 13th century. This is a race that stokes the rivalry between the various wards – “Contrade”– of the city. 10 out of the 17 wards race each year and have a horse selected to represent it. Centuries-old loyalties to the city are severely tested!
A short way from the Piazza is the city’s Cathedral, a stunning black and white striped marble Gothic building from the early renaissance. It remains controversial today, with people seeing it either as a masterpiece or a tasteless iced cake.
As with Florence, there are also numerous excellent shops in Siena particularly in the streets immediately surrounding the Piazza. Every Wednesday there is a huge market around the fortress walls of the city, which can make access to the city more difficult but is an exceptional sight in its own right.
