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SIENA , a See also:city and archiepiscopal see of See also:Tuscany, See also:Italy, See also:capital of the See also:province of Siena, 59 M. by See also:rail S. of See also:Florence and 31 M. See also:direct . Pop . (1901) 25,539 (See also:town); 40,423 (See also:commune) . The See also:area of the city within the walls is about 22 sq. m., and the height above See also:sea-level 1115 ft . The See also:plan, spreading from the centre over three hills, closely resembles that of See also:Perugia . The city possesses a university, founded in 1203 and limited to the faculties of See also:law and See also:medicine . Among the other public institutions the following are the more important: the town library, first opened to students in the 17th See also:century; the Archivio, a See also:record See also:office, instituted in 1858, containing a valuable and splendidly arranged collection of documents; the See also:Fine Arts Institution, founded in 1816; and the natural See also:history museum of the Royal See also:Academy of the Physiocritics, inaugurated in the same See also:year . There are also many flourishing charities, including an excellent See also:hospital and a school for the See also:deaf and dumb . The See also:chief See also:industries are See also:weaving and See also:agriculture . The public festivals of Siena known as the " Palio delle See also:Con-See also:trade " have a See also:European celebrity . They are held in the public square, the curious and historic Piazza del Campo (now Piazza di See also:Vittorio Emanuele) in shape resembling an See also:ancient See also:theatre, on the 2nd of See also:July and the 16th of See also:August of each year; they date from the See also:middle ages and were instituted in See also:commemoration of victories and in See also:honour of the Virgin See also:Mary (the old See also:title of Siena, as shown by See also:seals and medals, having been " Sena vetus civitas Virginis ") . In the 15th and 16th centuries the celebrations consisted of See also:bull-fights .
At the See also:close of the 16th century these were replaced by races with mounted buffaloes, and since 165o by (ridden) horses
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Siena is divided into seventeen contrade (wards), each with a distinct appellation and a See also:chapel and See also:flag of its own; and every year ten of these contrade, chosen by See also:lot, send each one See also:horse to compete for the See also:prize See also:patio or banner
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The aspect of Siena during these meetings is very characteristic, and the whole festivity bears a See also:medieval See also:stamp in See also:harmony with the See also:architecture and history of the town
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Among the noblest fruits of Sienese See also:art are the public buildings adorning the city
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The See also:cathedral, one of the finest examples of See also:Italian See also:Gothic architecture, obviously influenced in plan by the See also:abbey of S
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Galgano (infra), built in See also:black and See also:
The cathedral See also:pavement is almost unique
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It is inlaid with designs in See also:colour and black and white, representing Biblical and legendary subjects, and is supposed to have been begun by Duccio della Buoninsegna
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But the finest portions beneath the domes, with scenes from the history of See also:Abraham, See also:Moses and See also:Elijah, are by Domenico See also:Beccafumi and are executed with marvellous boldness and effect
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The See also:choir stalls also deserve mention: the older ones (remains of the See also:original choir) are in tarsia See also:work; the others, dating from the 16th century, are carved from Riccio's designs
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The See also:Piccolomini Library, adjoining the duomo, was founded by See also:Cardinal See also:Francesco Piccolomini (afterwards See also:Pius III.) in honour of his See also:uncle, Pius II
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Here are See also:Pinturicchio's famous frescoes of scenes from the See also:life of the latter pontiff, and the collection of choir books (supported on sculptured desks) with splendid illuminations by Sienese and other artists
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The See also:
It contains some good pictures by See also:Pacchia and other works of art, but is chiefly visited for its historic See also:interest and as a striking memorial of the characteristic piety of the Sienese
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The Accademia di Belle See also:Anti contains a good collection of pictures of the Sienese school, illustrating its development
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The communal See also:palace in the Piazza del Campo was begun in 1288 and finished in 1309
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It is built of See also:brick, is a fine specimen of Pointed Gothic, and was designed by Agostino and Agnolo
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The See also:light and elegant See also:tower (Torre del Mangla) soaring from one See also:side of the palace was begun in 1338 and finished after 1348, and the chapel See also:standing at its See also:foot, raised at the expense of the Opera del Duomo as a public thank-offering after the plague of 1348, begun in 1352 and completed in 1376
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This See also:grand old palace has other attractions besides the beauty of its architecture, for its interior is lined with works of art
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The See also:atrium has a fresco by Bartolo di Fredi and the two ground-See also:floor halls contain a See also:Coronation of the Virgin by Sano di Pietro and a splendid Resurrection by Sodoma
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In the See also:Sala dei Nove or della See also:Pace above are the See also:noble allegorical frescoes of Ambrogio Lorenzetti representing the effects of just and unjust See also:government; the Sala delle Balestre or del Mappamonido is painted by See also:Simone di Martino (Memmi) and others, the Cappella della Signoria by Taddeo di Bartolo, and the Sala del Consuitorio by Beccafumi
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Another See also: Doveri and erected in 1816, although modern, has an historic interest as the work of an academy dating iiom the 16th century, called the Congrega de' Rozzi, that played an important See also:part in the history of the Italian comic See also:stage . The city is adorned by many other noble edifices both public and private, among which the following palaces may be mentioned—Tolomei (1205); Buonsignori, formerly Tegliacci, an elegant 14th-century construction, restored in 1848; Grottanelli, formerly Pecci and anciently the See also:residence of the See also:captain of See also:war, recently restored in its original See also:style; Sansedoni; Marsilii; Piccolomini, now be-longing to the Government and containing the See also:state archives;i Piccolomini delle Papesse, like the other Piccolomini See also:mansion, designed by Bernardo See also:Rossellino, and now the Banca d' Italia; the enormous See also:block of the See also:Monte de' Paschi, a See also:bank of considerable See also:wealth and antiquity, enlarged and partly rebuilt in the original style between 1871 and 1881, the old Dogana and Salimbeni palaces; the Palazzo Spannochi, a fine early Renaissance building by Giuliano da Maiano (now the See also:post office) ; the Loggia di Mercanzia (15th century), now a See also:club, imitating the Loggia dei See also:Lanzi at Florence, with sculptures of the 15th century; the Loggia del Papa, erected by Pius II.; and other fine buildings . We may also mention the two celebrated fountains, Fonte Gaia and Fontebranda; the former, in the Piazza del Campo, by Jacopo della Quercia (1409-1419), but freely restored in 1868, the much-damaged original reliefs being now in the Opera del Duomo; the Fonte Nuova, near Porta Ovile, by Camaino di Crescentino also deserves See also:notice (1298) . Thanks to all these architectural treasures, the narrow Sienese streets with their many windings and steep ascents are full of picturesque See also:charm, and, together with the collections of excellent paintings, See also:foster the local See also:pride of the inhabitants and preserve their See also:taste and feeling for art . The medieval walls and See also:gates are still in the See also:main preserved . The ruined Cistercian abbey of S . Galgano, founded in 1201, with its fine church (1240–1268) is interesting and imposing . It lies some 20 M. See also:south-west of Siena . History.—Siena was probably founded by the Etruscans (a few tombs of that See also:period have been found outside Porta Camollia), and then, falling under the See also:Roman See also:rule, became a See also:colony in the reign of See also:Augustus, or a little earlier, and was distinguished by the name of Saena Julia . It has the same arms as See also:Rome—the she-See also:wolf and twins . But its real importance dates from the middle ages . Few memorials of the Roman era 2 or of the first centuries of See also:Christianity have been preserved (except the See also:legend of St Ansanus), and none at all of the See also:interval pre-ceding the Lombard period . We have documentary See also:evidence that in the 7th century in the reign' of Rotaris (or Rotari), there was a See also:bishop of Siena named Mauro . Attempts to trace earlier bishops as far back as the 5th century have yielded only vague and contradictory results . Under the See also:Lombards the See also:civil government was in the hands of a gastaldo, under the See also:Carolingians of a See also:count, whose authority, by slow degrees and a course of events similar to what took See also:place in other Italian communes, gave way to that of the bishop, whose See also:power in turn gradually diminished and was superseded by that of the consuls and the See also:commonwealth . We have written evidence of the consular government of Siena from 1125 to 1212; the number of consuls varied from three to twelve . This government, formed of gentiluomini or nobles, did not remain unchanged throughout the whole period, but was gradually forced to accept the participation of the popolani or See also:lower classes, whose efforts to rise to power were continuous and determined . Thus in 1137 they obtained a third part of the government by the reconstitution of the See also:general council with too nobles and 5o popolani . In 1199 the institution of a See also:foreign podestd (a form of government which became permanent in 1212) gave a severe See also:blow to the consular magistracy, which was soon extinguished; and in 1233 the See also:people again See also:rose against the nobles in the See also:hope of ousting them entirely from office . The strife was largely economic, the people desiring to deprive the nobles of the See also:immunity of See also:taxation which they had enjoyed . The See also:attempt was not completely successful; but the government was now equally divided between the two estates by the creation of a supreme magistracy of twenty-four citizens—twelve nobles and twelve popolani . During the rule of the nobles and the mixed rule of nobles and popolani the commune of Siena was enlarged by fortunate acquisitions of neighbouring lands and by the submission of feudal lords, such as the Scialenghi, Aldobrandeschi, Pannocchieschi, See also:Visconti di Campiglia, &c . i In these are especially interesting the painted covers of the books of the bicchierna and gabella, or See also:revenue and tax offices . 2 There are, however, remains of See also:baths some 22 M. to the See also:east; see P .
Piccolomini in Bullettino Senese de See also: Ghibelline Siena soon See also:felt the effects of the See also:change in the defeat of its army at Colle di Valdelsa (1269) by the See also:united forces of the Guelf exiles, Florentines and See also:French, and the See also:death in that battle of her powerful citizen Provenzano Salvani (mentioned by Dante), who had been the leading spirit of the government at the See also:time of the victory of Montaperti . For some time Siena remained faithful to the Ghibelline cause; nevertheless Guelf and democratic sentiments began to make See also:head . The Ghibellines were on several occasions expelled from the city, and, even when a temporary reconciliation of the two parties allowed them to return, they failed to regain their former See also:influence . Meanwhile the popular party acquired increasing power in the state . Exasperated by the tyranny of the Salimbeni and other patrician families allied to the Ghibellines, it decreed in 1277 the exclusion of all nobles from the supreme magistracy (consisting since 1270 of See also:thirty-six instead of twenty-four members), and insisted that this council should be formed solely of Guelf traders and men of the middle class . This constitution was confirmed in 128o by the reduction of the supreme magistracy to fifteen members, all of the humbler classes, and was definitively sanctioned in 1285 (and 1287) by the institution of the magistracy of nine . This council of nine, composed only of burghers, carried on the government for about seventy years, and its rule was sagacious and peaceful . The territories of the state were enlarged; a friendly alliance was maintained with Florence; trade flourished; in 1321 the university was founded, or rather revived, by the introduction of Bolognese scholars; the See also:principal buildings now adorning the town were begun; and the charitable institutions, which are the pride of modern Siena, increased and prospered . But meanwhile the exclusiveness of the single class of citizens from whose ranks the chief magistrates were See also:drawn had converted the government into a close See also:oligarchy and excited the hatred of every other class . Nobles, See also:judges, notaries and populace rose in frequent revolt, while the nine defended their state (1295–1309) by a strong body of citizen militia divided into terzieri (sections) and contrade (wards), and violently repressed these attempts . But in 1355 the arrival of Charles IV. in Siena gave fresh courage to the malcontents,who, backed by the imperial authority, overthrew the government of the nine and substituted a magistracy of twelve drawn from the lowest class . These new rulers were to some extent under the influence of the nobles who had fomented the See also:rebellion, but the latter were again soon excluded from all See also:share in the govern-, ment . This was the beginning of a determined struggle for supremacy, carried on for many years, between the different classes of citizens, locally termed ordini or monti—the lower classes striving to grasp the reins of government, the higher classes already in office striving to keep all power in their own hands, or to See also:divide it in proportion to the relative strength of each monte . As this struggle is of too complex a nature to be described in detail, we must limit ourselves to a See also:summary of its leading episodes . The twelve who replaced the council of nine (as these had previously replaced the council of the nobles) consisted—both as individuals and as a party—of ignorant, incapable, turbulent men, who could neither rule the state with firmness nor confer prosperity on the republic . They speedily See also:broke with the nobles, for whose manoeuvres they had at first been useful tools, and then split into two factions, one siding with the Tolomei, the other, the more restless and violent, with the Salimbeni and the noveschi (partisans of the nine), who, having still some influence in the city, probably fomented these dissensions, and, as we shall see later on, skilfully availed themselves of every See also:chance likely to restore them to power . In 1368 the adversaries of the twelve succeeded in See also:driving them by force from the public palace, and substituting a government of thirteen—ten nobles and three noveschi . This government lasted only twenty-two days, from the 2nd to the 24th September, and was easily overturned by the dominant See also:faction of the dodicini (partisans of the twelve), aided by the Salimbeni and the populace, and favoured by the See also:emperor Charles IV . The nobles were worsted, being driven from the city as well as from power; but the See also:absolute rule of the twelve was brought to an end, and right of participation in the government was extended to another class of citizens . For, on the See also:expulsion of the thirteen from the palace, a council of 124 plebeians created a new magistracy of twelve difensori (defenders), no longer drawn exclusively from the See also:order of the twelve, but composed of five of the popolo minuto, or lowest populace (now first admitted to the government), four of the twelve, and three of the nine . But it was of See also:short duration, for the dodicini were See also:ill satisfied with their share, and in See also:December of the same year (1368) joined with the popolo minuto in an attempt to expel the three noveschi from the palace . But the new popular order, which had already asserted its predominance in the council of the riformatori, now drove out the dodicini, and for five days (lrth to 16th December) kept the government in its own hands . Then, however, moved by fear of the emperor, who had passed through Siena two months before on his way to Rome, and who was about to See also:halt there on his return, it tried to conciliate its foes by creating a fresh council of 150 riformatori, who replaced the twelve defenders by a new supreme magistracy of fifteen, consisting of eight popolani, four dodicini, and three noveschi, entitled respectively " people of the greater number," " people of the middle number," and "people of the less number." From this renewal dates the formation of the new order or monte dei riformatori, the title henceforth bestowed on all citizens, of both the less and the greater people, who had reformed the government and begun to participate in it in 1368 . The turbulent See also:action of the twelve and the Salimbeni, being dissatisfied with these changes, speedily rose against the new government . This time they were actively aided by Charles IV., who, having returned from Rome, sent his militia, commanded by the imperial See also:vicar Malatesta da See also:Rimini, to attack the public palace . But the Sienese people, being called to arms by the council of fifteen, made a most determined resistance, routed the imperial troops, captured the See also:standard, and confined the emperor in the Salimbeni palace . Thereupon Charles came to terms with the government, granted it an imperial patent, and See also:left the city, consoled for his humiliation by the See also:gift of a large sum of See also:money . In spite of its wide basis and great See also:energy, the monte dei riformatori, the See also:heart of the new government, could not satisfactorily See also:cope with the attacks of adverse factions and treacherous allies . So, the better to repress them, it created in 1369 a chief of the See also:police, with the title of esecutore, and a numerous association of popolani—the See also:company or casata grande of the people—as bulwarks against the nobles, who had been recalled from banishment, and who, though fettered by strict regulations,were now eligible for offices of the state . But the appetite for power of the " less people " and the dregs of the populace was whetted rather than satisfied by the See also:installation of the riformatori in the principal posts of authority . Among the See also:wool-carders—men of the lowest class, dwelling in the precipitous lanes about the Porta Ovile—there was an association styling itself the "company of the See also:worm." During the See also:famine of 1371 this company rose in revolt, sacked the houses of the See also:rich, invaded the public palace, drove from the council of fifteen the four members of the twelve and the three of the nine, and replaced them by seven tatterdemalions . Then, having withdrawn to its own See also:quarter, it was suddenly attacked by the infuriated citizens (noveschi and dodicini), who broke into houses and workshops and put See also:numbers of the inhabitants to the See also:sword without regard for See also:age or See also:sex . Thereupon the popular rulers avenged these misdeeds by many summary executions in the piazza . These disorders were only checked by fresh changes in the council of fifteen . It was now formed of twelve of the greater people and three noveschi, to the See also:total exclusion of the dodicini, who, on See also:account of their growing turbulence, were likewise banished from the city . Meanwhile the government had also to contend with difficulties outside the walls .
The neighbouring lords attacked and ravaged the municipal territories; See also:grave injuries were inflicted by the See also:mercenary bands, especially by the Bretons and Gascons
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The rival claims to the Neapolitan See also:kingdom of Carlo di Durazzo and See also: |