"...Siena is the city of the Blessed Virgin and of it's heraldic
symbol the "Balzana", the white and black. It's passionate and
contemplative, known and unknown, steps and alleyways of days long
gone. The singular colour of the Piazza del Campo takes one by
surprise. In the districts, museums and oratories of the contradas,
the songs of the Palio evoke ancient rituals and modern cheer, while
at night the footsteps of shoes on the deserted streets couldn't be
further from the peace of the green valleys, closed out of the town
by the walls built hundreds of years ago, before Siena became a true
city. Siena is also the Duomo, the cathedral and the breathtaking
view from the Facciatone; the Pilgrim's Hall at Santa Maria della
Scala, the Piccolomini Library and the prestigious Chiagiana
Academy. The overpowering fortress now holds the Enoteca Italiana,
and with it the most precious wines of the region, of Tuscany and of
the whole country; the smells from the trattorie, the sound of the
craftsmen and the splashes from the fountains; Fontebranda and the
mystery of Diana, the famous underground river and the geometric
architecture of the Piazza, at once suggestively neo-Gothic and
cathartic. These are the reasons why "Cor magis tibi Saena pandit"
(Siena opens her heart more than her doors to you), as engraved
above Porta Camollia...."
