---
title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Siena, Italy | Wimup"
description: "The 10 best things to do in Siena: the Campo, the striped Duomo and its marble floor, the Lorenzetti frescoes, Santa Maria della Scala and the Palio."
url: https://wimup.com/city/siena
type: City guide
updated: 2026-09-08
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Top 10 Things To Do in Siena

Siena, Italy · Europe · By Wimup Editorial, 14 min read

Florence took the crowds and Siena kept the Middle Ages. The city stopped growing after the plague of 1348, so what it left behind is intact, brick and steep. The whole historic centre is UNESCO-listed, and almost none of it sits more than twenty minutes' walk from the Campo.

## Quick answer

Siena is a walled Gothic city of about 53,000 people, built along three ridges and closed to cars in the centre. Two days covers Piazza del Campo, the striped Duomo complex and the Lorenzetti frescoes in the Palazzo Pubblico. Come in spring or early autumn, or on 2 July or 16 August, when the Palio is run in the square.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** Apr–Jun · Sep–Oct
- **Ideal length:** 2–3 days
- **Budget per day:** €95–170
- **Language:** Italian
- **Getting around:** On foot, the walled centre is closed to traffic
- **Tourism board:** [↗ Website](https://www.visitsiena.it/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## The 10 best things to do in Siena

### 1. Sit out the evening in Piazza del Campo

Landmark · Piazza del Campo, 53100 Siena

The square is a shell of brick paving divided into nine segments, one for each member of the Government of the Nine that ran Siena from 1287 to 1355. It slopes, so people sit on it. Come back after dark, when the Palazzo Pubblico is lit and the cafés along the curve have emptied.

- **Time:** 1 hr
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** After dark
- **Tip:** Sit on the paving

Links: [Website](https://www.visitsiena.it/en/piazza-del-campo/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 2. Walk the Duomo's marble floor

Cathedral · Piazza del Duomo 8, 53100 Siena

Banded black and white inside and out, and floored with 56 inlaid marble panels that spend most of the year under protective boarding. They are uncovered for roughly ten weeks from late June and again from mid-August. The Piccolomini Library off the left aisle is included and should not be skipped.

- **Time:** 1–2 hrs
- **Cost:** Cathedral ticket
- **Best at:** Floor season
- **Tip:** Book a timed slot

Links: [Website](https://operaduomo.siena.it/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 3. Read the Allegory of Good Government at the Museo Civico

Museum · Palazzo Pubblico, Piazza del Campo 1, 53100 Siena

Ambrogio Lorenzetti covered three walls of the Sala dei Nove with a working city, the countryside that feeds it, and opposite, the version where it all fails. It is the first great secular painting cycle in Europe, and it was propaganda aimed at the nine men who sat in that room.

- **Time:** 1–2 hrs
- **Cost:** Museum ticket
- **Best at:** Morning
- **Tip:** Combined tower ticket sold on site

Links: [Website](https://museocivico.comune.siena.it/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 4. Climb the Torre del Mangia

Viewpoint · Palazzo Pubblico, Piazza del Campo 1, 53100 Siena

Over 400 narrow steps to a bell chamber about 87 m up, with the Campo directly below and the Tuscan hills past the walls. Access is capped at 25 people at a time, so the wait at the foot of the stairs is usually longer than the climb itself.

- **Time:** 45 min
- **Cost:** Tower ticket
- **Best at:** Late afternoon
- **Tip:** Go before the museum

Links: [Website](https://www.visitsiena.it/en/torre-del-mangia/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 5. Spend a morning in Santa Maria della Scala

Museum · Piazza del Duomo 1, 53100 Siena

One of Europe's oldest hospitals, working from the Middle Ages until the 1990s and now four floors of museum facing the cathedral. The Pellegrinaio ward is the reason to come: 15th-century frescoes by Domenico di Bartolo showing the hospital feeding, treating and raising the city's foundlings.

- **Time:** 2 hrs
- **Cost:** Museum ticket
- **Best at:** Morning
- **Tip:** Free on the first Sunday

Links: [Website](https://www.santamariadellascala.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 6. Stand in front of Duccio's Maestà

Museum · Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Piazza del Duomo 8, 53100 Siena

Painted for the cathedral's high altar and carried there in procession in 1311, then dismantled centuries later. The front panel and the Passion scenes from its back now hang facing one another, which is the only way anyone can see both sides of the same altarpiece.

- **Time:** 1 hr
- **Cost:** OPA SI Pass
- **Best at:** Morning
- **Tip:** The Facciatone stairs start here

Links: [Website](https://operaduomo.siena.it/en/cathedral-museum/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 7. Take the stairs up the Facciatone

Viewpoint · Piazza Jacopo della Quercia, 53100 Siena

Siena began a cathedral that would have swallowed the one it has, and the plague of 1348 ended the project. The finished wall still stands, and a staircase inside the museum puts you on top of it, in the one spot with the Duomo and the Torre del Mangia in a single frame.

- **Time:** 20 min
- **Cost:** In the museum ticket
- **Best at:** Late afternoon
- **Tip:** Narrow stairs, small platform

Links: [Website](https://operaduomo.siena.it/en/cathedral-museum/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 8. Climb to the Basilica of San Domenico

Church · Piazza San Domenico 1, 53100 Siena

A vast brick barn of a Dominican church on the Camporegio ridge, begun in the 13th century and stripped of almost all decoration. It keeps the head of St Catherine of Siena in a chapel frescoed by Sodoma. The terrace outside frames the Duomo across the valley.

- **Time:** 45 min
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Late afternoon
- **Tip:** Shoulders covered

Links: [Website](https://www.santacaterina.siena.it/the-basilica-of-san-domenico/?lang=en&utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 9. Go underground into the bottini

Tour · Fonte Gaia and Fonte Nuova branches, 53100 Siena

Siena has no river, so medieval engineers cut roughly 25 km of tunnels through the sandstone to bring water up to the fountains. Volunteers from the Associazione La Diana take small groups into part of the Fonte Gaia and Fonte Nuova branches. Places go months ahead.

- **Time:** 1 hr
- **Cost:** Guided visit
- **Best at:** Booked ahead
- **Tip:** Small groups, weather dependent

Links: [Website](https://www.terredisiena.it/en/art-and-culture/bottini-in-siena/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 10. Watch the sun go down from the Fortezza Medicea

Landmark · Piazza della Libertà 1, 53100 Siena

Cosimo I built the fortress in the 1560s to hold a city he had just conquered, and Siena turned it into a park. The ramparts are free, flat and open, and they look west over the walls. Enoteca Italiana reopened inside the bastions in 2025.

- **Time:** 1 hr
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Sunset
- **Tip:** Walk on through La Lizza

Links: [Website](https://www.enotecaitalianasiena.it/en/home/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best museums in Siena

The Pinacoteca Nazionale closed in January 2026 for accessibility and energy works, with no reopening date announced. This is what is open.

1. **Museo Civico** (Palazzo Pubblico · ticket · Piazza del Campo): Lorenzetti's Good and Bad Government, in the room the Nine sat in. [Website](https://museocivico.comune.siena.it/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Santa Maria della Scala** (Museum complex · ticket · Piazza del Duomo): Four floors of former hospital. The Pellegrinaio frescoes are the reason to go. [Website](https://www.santamariadellascala.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Museo dell'Opera del Duomo** (Cathedral museum · OPA SI Pass · Piazza del Duomo): Duccio's Maestà, Giovanni Pisano's façade statues, and the Facciatone stairs. [Website](https://operaduomo.siena.it/en/cathedral-museum/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Palazzo Chigi Saracini** (Guided visit · Via di Città): The Chigiana music academy's palace: a Rococo concert hall and a private picture collection. [Website](https://www.chigiana.org/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Palazzo Chigi Piccolomini alla Postierla** (National museum · Via di Città): One of the national museum sites staying open while the Pinacoteca is shut. [Website](https://www.pinacotecanazionalesiena.it/en/pinacoteca-nazionale-2/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best churches in Siena

The cathedral is the headline. The rest are where the city keeps its saints, mostly for nothing.

1. **Duomo di Siena** (Cathedral · ticket · Terzo di Città): Striped marble, Pinturicchio's library and 56 inlaid floor panels. [Website](https://operaduomo.siena.it/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Battistero di San Giovanni** (Baptistery · OPA SI Pass · Piazza San Giovanni): Below the cathedral's east end, around a font panelled by della Quercia, Ghiberti and Donatello. [Website](https://operaduomo.siena.it/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Basilica di San Domenico** (Free · Camporegio): Brick, bare and enormous, and the keeper of St Catherine's head. [Website](https://www.santacaterina.siena.it/the-basilica-of-san-domenico/?lang=en&utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Basilica di San Francesco** (Free · Terzo di Camollia): Gothic, quiet and rebuilt after a 17th-century fire, with Lorenzetti fragments in the transept.
5. **Basilica di Santa Maria dei Servi** (Free · Valdimontone): Worth the walk east for Coppo di Marcovaldo's Madonna and the view back at the Duomo.

## Best restaurants in Siena (2026)

Pici, Cinta Senese and Chianina, from the Michelin-listed room off the Campo to the trattoria the contrade eat in.

1. **Osteria Le Logge** (Tuscan · €€€ · Via del Porrione 33): Michelin-listed, in a former grocer's a minute off the Campo. Book well ahead.
2. **La Taverna di San Giuseppe** (Tuscan · €€€ · Via Giovanni Duprè 132): Etruscan tufa cellars, truffle from October, and one of the longest wine lists in Tuscany.
3. **Antica Trattoria Papei** (Trattoria · €€ · Piazza del Mercato 6): Trading since 1936 behind the Palazzo Pubblico: pici, tripe and no ceremony.
4. **Grotta di Santa Caterina da Bagoga** (Tuscan · €€ · Via della Galluzza 26): Opened in 1973 by a former Palio jockey, down an alley below San Domenico.
5. **Osteria Il Carroccio** (Osteria · €€ · Via del Casato di Sotto 32): A Slow Food snail, eight tables, and pici rolled in the back.
6. **Tre Cristi** (Seafood · €€€ · Vicolo di Provenzano 1): Fish, in a beef city, served in a 15th-century room off Piazza Provenzano.
7. **Particolare di Siena** (Modern Tuscan · €€€ · Via Baldassarre Peruzzi 26): Modern Tuscan just outside Porta Romana, on the Via Francigena.
8. **Compagnia dei Vinattieri** (Enoteca ristorante · €€€ · Via delle Terme 79): A vaulted cellar near San Domenico that cooks as seriously as it pours.

## Best wine bars in Siena

Siena sits between Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile, and pours all three by the glass.

1. **Enoteca I Terzi** (Enoteca · €€€ · Via dei Termini 7): Brick vaults wrapped round a 12th-century tower, where the three terzi meet. [Website](https://www.enotecaiterzi.it/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Osteria Il Grattacielo** (Osteria · € · Via dei Pontani 8): Open since 1840 and the oldest osteria in town: cold plates, jug wine, standing room.
3. **Cantina in Piazza** (Wine shop · €€ · Via Stalloreggi 15): A small shop with a tasting counter and a list built from growers rather than labels.
4. **Enoteca Italiana** (Fortezza Medicea · Piazza della Libertà): Reopened in the Medici fortress bastions in 2025 after seven years dark. [Website](https://www.enotecaitalianasiena.it/en/home/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Compagnia dei Vinattieri** (Enoteca ristorante · €€€ · Via delle Terme 79): The deepest cellar of the five, and the one to book if you want to sit down.

## Best neighborhoods in Siena

Three terzi meet at the Campo, and seventeen contrade divide them again. Flags on a wall tell you which one you are in.

1. **Terzo di Città** (Terzo · Southwest): The southwest ridge, holding the Duomo, Via di Città and the university.
2. **Terzo di San Martino** (Terzo · Southeast): East and downhill from the Campo, and the quietest of the three after dark.
3. **Terzo di Camollia** (Terzo · North): North along Banchi di Sopra to the Fortezza, the station road and Porta Camollia.
4. **Fontebranda** (Contrada dell'Oca · West): The steep valley under San Domenico, the Goose contrada's ground, around a fountain first recorded in 1081.
5. **La Lizza and the Fortezza** (Park · North): Siena's park and its running track, and the ground the Wednesday market spreads across.
6. **Piazza del Mercato** (Square · Behind the Campo): The terrace behind the Palazzo Pubblico, with the best of the everyday trattorie on it.

## Best day trips in Siena

Siena is the base for the Val d'Orcia, Chianti and the tower towns. Autolinee Toscane reaches most of them from Piazza Gramsci.

1. **San Gimignano** (~45 km · bus · Val d'Elsa): Fourteen surviving tower houses, an hour northwest with a change at Poggibonsi.
2. **Monteriggioni** (~20 km · bus · Val d'Elsa): A complete ring of walls with fourteen towers, about twenty minutes by bus.
3. **Montalcino** (~40 km · bus · Val d'Orcia): Brunello's hill town, with a 14th-century fortress you can drink inside.
4. **Pienza** (~55 km · bus · Val d'Orcia): Pius II's model Renaissance square, and pecorino. Buses change at Buonconvento.
5. **Montepulciano** (~65 km · bus · Val di Chiana): Vino Nobile, and one long climbing main street. About 65 km southeast.
6. **Abbazia di Sant'Antimo** (~50 km · car · Val d'Orcia): A Romanesque abbey alone in a valley south of Montalcino. Easiest by car.
7. **Chianti Classico** (~30 km · car · Chianti): The SR222 north through Castellina and Radda. A car, and a driver who is not tasting.

## Best shopping in Siena

Banchi di Sopra and Via di Città hold most of it, and almost all of it is edible.

1. **Nannini** (Pasticceria · Banchi di Sopra 24): Siena's café and pasticceria: panforte, ricciarelli and an espresso taken standing.
2. **Antica Drogheria Manganelli** (Grocer · Via di Città 71): Trading since 1879: cured Cinta Senese, pecorino, oil and boxed sweets.
3. **Consorzio Agrario di Siena** (Food shop · Via Pianigiani 9): A farmers' co-op since 1901, stocked from Tuscan producers rather than importers.
4. **Wednesday market at La Lizza** (Street market · La Lizza): The weekly market wraps around the Fortezza on Wednesday mornings.

## Festivals & annual events in Siena (2026)

- **Festa di Santa Caterina** (29 Apr): Siena's own saint. Solemn mass at San Domenico, then processions from her house in Fontebranda.
- **Siena Jazz festival** (Jun–Jul): Concerts and masterclasses in courtyards and squares across the city, the Logge del Papa among them.
- **Duomo floor uncovered** (Late Jun–Oct): The cathedral's 56 marble panels come out from under their boards, in two windows either side of August.
- **Palio della Madonna di Provenzano** (2 Jul): Three bareback laps of the Campo, over in about ninety seconds, after four days of trials.
- **Chigiana International Festival** (Jul–Aug): The Accademia Musicale Chigiana's summer season, in its own palace and in churches around town.
- **Festa dell'Assunta** (15 Aug): The patronal feast, on the eve of the second Palio, with the contrade processing to the Duomo.
- **Palio dell'Assunta** (16 Aug): The August race, dedicated to the Assumption. The city fills and the ropes close hours before the start.
- **Mercato nel Campo** (Dec): A medieval market takes over the Campo for a weekend, with food, wine and craft stalls.

## Must-try dishes in Siena, Italy

- **Pici**: Hand-rolled flour and water pasta, thicker than spaghetti and never machine cut.
- **Pici all'aglione**: The Sienese sauce: tomato and aglione, a large mild garlic from the Val di Chiana.
- **Pici cacio e pepe**: Two ingredients, aged pecorino and black pepper, loosened with pasta water.
- **Cinta Senese**: The native belted pig, DOP since 2012, eaten cured as salumi or grilled.
- **Ribollita**: Bread, cavolo nero and beans, cooked once and reboiled the following day.
- **Panforte**: A dense cake of honey, candied fruit, nuts and spice, made here since the 13th century.
- **Ricciarelli**: Soft almond biscuits, cracked on top and dusted white. IGP since 2010.
- **Cavallucci**: Chewy walnut and aniseed biscuits, sold by weight and meant for vin santo.

## Siena transport & airports

- **Florence Airport** (FLR): The nearest airport, about 79 km north. Tram to Firenze Santa Maria Novella, then the 131R bus or a train via Empoli. [Official website](https://www.aeroporto.firenze.it/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Pisa Airport** (PSA): About 119 km northwest and the main low-cost gateway. PisaMover to Pisa Centrale, then trains via Empoli. [Official website](https://www.pisa-airport.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Trains** (RAIL): The station sits in the valley below the walls, on the Empoli line. Most Florence services change at Empoli. Escalators climb toward Porta Camollia. [Official website](https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Regional buses** (BUS): Autolinee Toscane runs Tuscany. The 131R from Florence takes about 75 minutes into Piazza Gramsci, which is also the departure point for the hill towns. [Official website](https://www.at-bus.it/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Siena at a glance

- **Country:** Italy
- **Region:** Tuscany, province of Siena (SI)
- **Population:** About 53,200 in the comune
- **Founded:** Roman colony of Saena Julia, on Etruscan ground
- **Nickname:** Città del Palio
- **Language:** Italian
- **Currency:** Euro (€)
- **Time zone:** CET · UTC+1, CEST in summer
- **Calling code:** +39, area code 0577
- **Airports:** FLR 79 km · PSA 119 km
- **Power:** 230V, Type C, F and L sockets
- **Emergency:** 112

## Interesting facts

- Monte dei Paschi di Siena has been lending since 1472, which makes it the oldest bank still trading.
- The University of Siena opened in 1240 and was Italy's first publicly funded university.
- The Campo's paving is split into nine segments, one for each of the Nine who governed the city to 1355.
- Siena has no river. Around 25 km of medieval tunnels, the bottini, still feed its fountains.
- The plague of 1348 stopped work on a cathedral extension. Its unfinished wall is now the Facciatone.

## Watch

[Siena Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/siena.md), 25:01

## Siena travel FAQ

### How many days do you need in Siena?

Two full days covers the Campo, the Duomo complex, the Museo Civico and Santa Maria della Scala without rushing any of them. A third day buys a trip into the Val d'Orcia or Chianti, or the time to walk the outer contrade and the city walls.

### When is the Palio, and can you watch it for free?

The two races run on 2 July and 16 August every year. The centre of the Campo is free and unticketed, but you have to be inside it hours ahead and cannot leave once the ropes close. Balcony and window seats are sold privately by the buildings that own them.

### Is Siena worth more than a day trip from Florence?

Yes. The 131R bus makes it an easy day at about 75 minutes each way, but the coaches leave in the late afternoon and the city changes when they do. The Campo at dusk, with the contrade out and the Palazzo Pubblico lit, is the reason to stay a night.

### Can you drive into the centre of Siena?

No. The historic centre is a limited traffic zone and the cameras issue fines automatically. Park in one of the perimeter garages, then use the escalators and lifts that climb into the walls from the car parks and from the station in the valley.

### Is the Pinacoteca Nazionale open?

Not at the moment. It closed on 26 January 2026 for accessibility and energy-efficiency works, with no reopening date announced. Other national museum sites in Siena stay open, including Palazzo Chigi Piccolomini alla Postierla.

## Nearby guides

- [Pisa](https://wimup.com/city/pisa.md): Day trip · 10 picks
- [San Marino](https://wimup.com/city/san-marino.md): San Marino · 10 picks
- [Rome](https://wimup.com/city/rome.md): Italy · 10 picks
- [All of Europe →](https://wimup.com/europe): 160 cities

Part of the [Italy guide](https://wimup.com/country/italy.md) · [Europe](https://wimup.com/europe.md)

## Sources

- [Siena tourism board](https://www.visitsiena.it/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Sit out the evening in Piazza del Campo (official site)](https://www.visitsiena.it/en/piazza-del-campo/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Walk the Duomo's marble floor (official site)](https://operaduomo.siena.it/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Read the Allegory of Good Government at the Museo Civico (official site)](https://museocivico.comune.siena.it/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Climb the Torre del Mangia (official site)](https://www.visitsiena.it/en/torre-del-mangia/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Spend a morning in Santa Maria della Scala (official site)](https://www.santamariadellascala.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Stand in front of Duccio's Maestà (official site)](https://operaduomo.siena.it/en/cathedral-museum/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Climb to the Basilica of San Domenico (official site)](https://www.santacaterina.siena.it/the-basilica-of-san-domenico/?lang=en&utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Go underground into the bottini (official site)](https://www.terredisiena.it/en/art-and-culture/bottini-in-siena/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Watch the sun go down from the Fortezza Medicea (official site)](https://www.enotecaitalianasiena.it/en/home/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Palazzo Chigi Saracini (official site)](https://www.chigiana.org/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Palazzo Chigi Piccolomini alla Postierla (official site)](https://www.pinacotecanazionalesiena.it/en/pinacoteca-nazionale-2/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Enoteca I Terzi (official site)](https://www.enotecaiterzi.it/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Florence Airport (official site)](https://www.aeroporto.firenze.it/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Pisa Airport (official site)](https://www.pisa-airport.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Trains (official site)](https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Regional buses (official site)](https://www.at-bus.it/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.