History of Siena
 A historical view of the Duomo, Siena. |
According to legend, Siena was founded by Senius, son of Remus, who was in turn the brother of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Statues and other artwork depicting a she-wolf suckling the young twins Romulus and Remus can be seen all over the city of Siena.
Siena began as an Etruscan settlement and a small Roman town, and was the seat of a Christian bishop by the 5th century. Its importance began in the early 12th century, when a self-governing commune replaced the earlier aristocratic government.
The consuls who governed the republic slowly became more inclusive of the poblani, or common people, and the Commune increased its territory as the surrounding feudal nobles in their fortified castles submitted to the urban power.
Siena's republic, struggling internally between nobles and the popular party, usually worked in political opposition to its great rival, Florence, and was in the 13th century predominantly Ghibelline in opposition to Florence's Guelph position (the backdrop for Dante's Commedia)
Siena's university, founded in 1203 and famed for its faculties of law and medicine, is still among the most important Italian universities. The picturesque city remains an important cultural centre, specially for humanist disciplines.
Siena rivalled Florence in the arts through the 13th and 14th centuries. The important late medieval painter Duccio (1253–1319) was a Senese but worked across the peninsula, and the mural of "Good Government" by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Palazzo Pubblico, or town hall, is a magnificent example of late-Medieval/early Renaissance art as well as a representation of the utopia of urban society as conceived during that period.
Siena was devastated by the Black Plague of 1348 and never recovered its earlier glory, losing out to Florence in inter-urban rivalry. Siena retained its independence in Tuscany until 1557.
Siena's cathedral, the Duomo, begun in the 12th century, is one of the great examples of Italian gothic architecture. The shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, the town square, is another architectural treasure and is famous for hosting the Palio.
