Siena walking tour in historic center

The historic center of Siena is an ideal place to take a walk. See more Siena movies in our playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLke86NFI6R8yLtO5ju8fWwcby8vK77aEp Siena is a very livable city. It's built to a human scale covering about a square kilometer which makes it small enough that you can easily walk from one end of town to the other in a single day and see almost all of the sites in between. There's an endless variety of interesting things to see along your way. A small city, but crisscrossed by dozens of little lanes that provide many miles of picturesque strolling opportunities for the ambitious trekker. It's fun to just wander around and get a little bit lost, up and down the back alleys and then find your way back to the main lane and the major landmarks. Siena is divided in three districts corresponding to the three ridges it sits on, North, West and East, with the Campo in the middle, the main piazza. At the north end of the main shopping lane, via Banchi di Sopra, there is a pretty little square, Piazza Salimbeni, with Europe's oldest bank founded in 1472. Facing that is Siena's five-star grand Hotel Continental. It's been here over 100 years, a former palace – nice spot for a break. The next square is Piazza Tolomei, whose palazzo is the oldest private residence in town dating from the early 13th century. The piazza's a popular place for locals to hang out and watch the passing parade. This main shopping street is worth walking from one end to the other, perhaps stopping for a bite at one of the attractive little restaurants along the way. And narrow side alleys will attract you with their charms. This street was once part of Europe's most important medieval route, like an agent superhighway called via Francigena, which united northern Europe with Rome, always busy with pilgrims heading for the sacred city. Via Banchi di Sopra soon ends at the beautiful Loggia Mercanzia. Built in the early 1400s the loggia had been commercial Court of Justice and a money exchange house. This is the central intersection, the heart of downtown were Siena's three main pedestrian streets come together: via Banchi di Sopra comes in from the north, then branches off to the east becoming via Banchi di Sotto, and to the west as via di Citta. The latter two, Citta and Sotto are really one street the changes name, then change again at the fringes of town. They run along tops of the three low hills that divide Siena into its three sections. At this poi nt all three districts are joined. These three streets of the widest and busiest of the pedestrian lanes in the historic center and have many buildings from the 13th through the 15th century – palaces, churches and old civic structures. Of course you will find varying kinds of find shops and restaurants throughout their lengths, which total less than one mile altogether. This is the neighborhood for easy strolling and watching the locals in action, although it does get quite full of tourists during the busy summer season. Escape the crowds by ducking into the side alleys as we will be showing you here. You'll find that when you get off the beaten track these little lanes are a lot more residential, you're not going to see a lot of shops or restaurants but you will notice the beautiful architecture, the old brick, the arches across the alley ways. Simple sites like local out walking her dog can be pretty entertaining when you just stop and take a look and wait for something to happen. Walking on the steep hills can be a challenge for anybody, especially if you have a dog who's pulling you in the opposite direction. If you're walking down you're going to be having to turn around eventually and walk back up a hill, after all this is one of the Tuscan hill towns.

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