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History of Siena

There is no city in the world like Siena

The characteristic symbols of Siena are the “balzana” (a black and white shield) and the she-wolf breast-feeding twins, the same emblem as Rome. In fact, according to an ancient legend, the city was founded by Remus’ sons, Senius and Aschius, who, when they left Rome, took with them the statue of the she-wolf, stolen from Apollo’s temple and set up home in the Tuscan hills; Senius rode a white horse, and Aschius a black one: thus explaining the choice of the two symbol colours of the city.  The Siennese zone was probably already inhabited in the Etruscan age (VII-V sec. BC), but the Romans founded the city as a military colony (Saena Julia) at the time of Emperor Ottavian Augustus (27 BC – 14 BC). However, throughout Roman times, Siena did not have a great economic development as she was situated too far away from the important communication lines: the Aurelia to the West, which follows the Tyrrenian coast, and the Cassia to the East, which crosses the Val di Chiana and the Val d’Arno. Later on, around the IV century, the Siennese see was born, after the spread of Christianity promoted (according to legend) by St. Ansano. The invasion of the Longobards in Italy, in 568 AD, brought with it an unexpected prosperity for the city: under the longobard rule Siena enlarged her borders to the detriment of Arezzo and conquered Rapolano, Sinalunga and Asciano, which are to this day part of Siena’s province. Furthermore, due to the continual deterioration of the areas around the Aurelia and the Cassia, the city found itself in a new and important communication line: the Via Francigena.   In the VIII century, Charles Magnus defeated the Longobards and Siena passed under French rule: Siennese nobility was born from the core of noble Longobard and French families.   After some centuries of economic, political and cultural stasis, the town thrived again, at the beginning of the 1100s, in a new form: the Town Council. Slowly Siena extended her boundaries into the surrounding countryside and the first disputes with Florence begin, concluding with the famous battle of Monteaperti in 1260. In the XIII century, Siena became a true urban centre, thriving in the economic, political and artistic fields: the first banks and the important hospital St. Maria della Scala were born during this period. Unfortunately, peace with Florence did not last long and Siena was obliged to accept Florentine political supremacy; however, between 1287 and 1355, under the so-called Regime of Nine (as there were nine governors of the Republic of Siena), the town knew a period of relative peace and tranquillity: the statute (laws) was upheld, the boundaries were extended towards the South up to the Maremmana coast, the Amiata mountain and Talamone (Siena’s “port”), and, most importantly, the Sienese school of art was born and developed, where great artists such as Duccio di Boninsegna (1255-1319c.ca), Simone Martini (1284-1348) and Ambrogio Lorenzetti (1319-1348c.ca) worked. The XIV century is characterised, on one side, by the progressive economic, political and cultural decline, due also to the plague that hit all of Europe in 1348, and on the other, by a reborn mysticism and a renewed religiousness, which were represented by St. Catherine (1347-1380) and St. Bernardino (1380-1444). In the renaissance age Siena once again found her splendour, especially in her cultural life: the Siennese school integrated the new Florentine styles into its painting and sculpture; on the architectural side, the Siennese Pope Pio II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini) carried out a great innovative work. The end of the 1400s saw the beginning of a slow but relentless decline for the Republic of Siena: by now politically backwards, oppressed by the other great European powers ( France and the Asburg states) and continually in dispute with nearby Florence, in 1559 the city fell once and for all to the hands of the Spanish monarch Philip II, who in turn, surrendered her to Cosimo I of the Medici family, a Florentine nobleman. Siena, in this way therefore, entered into the Grand Dukedom of Tuscany, losing her political independence but maintaining the administrative one. Furthermore, the city relived an intense cultural life, linked to the development of the University (founded in the XIII century) and the Academies (those of  the Physiocritics and the still exist today); even the economy made positive progress.   During this same period (XVI-XVII), the tradition of the Palio was consolidated: the “contradas” gradually gain increasing importance allowing the Siennese people to fully experience their vivaciousness and factiousness, which even today are demonstrated in the Palio.  The few elements of the ancient Siennese Republic (on the administrative and legislative levels) that remained disappeared during the XVIII and XIX centuries; after which the city followed the succession of Tuscan Dukedom first and then the new Italian State.  

 

 

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Società Dante Alighieri, Siena

Via Tommaso Pendola, 37 - 53100 Siena (IT)

Tel. +39 0577 49533 - Fax. +39 0577 270646 - info@dantealighieri.com