SIENA: worth a visit

Our beloved city has got a great recognition on 2010.

The very well known website Tripadvisor has drawn up the 25 world top Destinations ranking and Siena appears to 8th place.

It’s also first among the top 25 Destinations in Italy chosen by

Europeans and ninth among top 10 food and wine Destination in the world.

As a Siennese I want to thank all those who voted for Siena. We will strive to go on this way.

In the meantime let me suggest you some things to do in Siena which we talk about in our Blog:

- PALIO: Tips – Schedule of Palio of July – Schedule of Palio of August

- WINE TOURS: Tips – Chianti – San Gimignano – Montepulciano

- FOOD: Our favourite restaurants

- MOVIE SETS: New Moon – Quantum of Solace

- HIDDEN SIENA: Contrada della Torre – Museo di Biccherna – Bottini

- EVENTS: in this section you can check the update events

We hope you will enjoy your stay in Siena. If you want information about something that you do not find in our Blog do not hesitate to make questions to us.

It will be a pleasure for us to to contribute to the success of your holiday.

To know what tripadvisor travelers say about us go here

NEWS FROM INTERNET

During the end of October I spent one week in US - before Connecticut and then NY -

One early morning, 'couse jetlag akaking me at 4/5 am, I spent few hours on internet just exploring the web in US and... trying to realize what it says about my town, Siena.

On web site WorldHum I found an interview with Billy Collins and an article of Sara Schmelling

Billy Collins in an interviw about his book "The Trouble with Poetry" said...."For me a place really takes over when I’m in that place and I am freed of any desire to go anywhere, and I can kind of imagine sitting in that place forever. That hasn’t happened very often. It happened in Siena, Italy. I was sitting in the campo. It just seemed like this could be the center of the universe."

Another surprise was Sarah Schmelling's article "Ciao Bella" about her first trip to Siena

..."I went to Siena for a few good reasons. I left Chicago for a million more"and "I picked Italy for its art, and Siena was full of it. It was just so old. The town hall was built in the 12th century, and all the other buildings weren’t much younger. Streets arched over each other in narrow brick streams, and a thick high wall circled the town as if the whole thing had been thrown like a discus into the Tuscan hills. The Duomo was made of ancient striped marble, and St. Catherine’s skull was in a church named for her, where it’s been for 600 years. Everything was medieval and preserved, and nothing was like where I came from."......."Days before I went home, I knew I’d be ready for it. There were people to get back to, and I knew who they were. People, in general, could be terrible and wonderful. Sad that I had to go to Italy to realize that. Amazing that I could"

by Gaia

Tripadvisor buzz

In recent days my attention was caught by a forum appeared on Tripadvisor, where a young American tourist “acesmith79" (so it seems from the personal file ) has titled his remark about the city where I was born and live (Siena): "Beweare: Siena is misleading!”, comparing Siena to Disneyworld.

In the beginning, reading this comment, I was very angry but my anger was eased by reading how many people, not Sienese nor Italians, have responded by defending the beauty and peculiarity of Siena (currently more than 70).

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