Things to Do in Siena

Siena's Palio horse race, held twice yearly in the Piazza del Campo since the 17th century, is so intense that jockeys can be knocked off mid-race and the horse can still win.

The city is built on three hills and arranged in a Y-shape, divided into 17 administrative districts (contrade) that compete fiercely in the Palio and maintain their own identities, flags, and traditions.

Siena's brick-red colour comes from the local clay and iron oxide in the earth; the city's entire medieval centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with virtually no modern development allowed inside the walls.

The Cathedral of Siena contains a floor decorated with 56 marble inlay panels created by different artists over nearly 300 years, making it one of Italy's most ornate church floors.

Siena was a major medieval banking and wool-trading power that rivalled Florence; its decline after the 16th century accidentally preserved it as one of Europe's best-intact Gothic towns.