Local Information

of Siena, Tuscany, Italy and is one of Europe's greatest medieval squares. Around the piazza are ranged the Palazzo Pubblico, with its Torre del Mangia and various ''palazzi signorili''. The open site was a marketplace established before the thirteenth century on a sloping site near the meeting point of the three hillside communities that coalesced to form Siena: the Castellare, the San (...)

, located in the Tuscany region of Italy. Construction began in 1297 and its original purpose was to house the republican government, consisting of the Podesta and Council of Nine. architecture with Gothic influences. The lower story is stone; the upper crenelatted stories are made of brick (...)

The Palio di Siena (known locally simply as the ''Palio''), the most famous palio in Italy, is a horse race held twice each year on July 2 and August 16 in Siena, in which the horse and rider represent one of the seventeen ''Contrade'', or city wards. A magnificent pageant precedes the race, which attracts visitors and spectators from around the world (...)