History of Siena

<p><em>A History of Siena</em> provides a concise and up-to-date biography of the city from its ancient and medieval development up to the present day and makes Siena’s history culture and traditions accessible to anyone studying or visiting the city.</p><p>Well informed by archival research and recent scholarship on medieval Siena and the Italian city-states this book places Siena’s development in its larger context both temporally and geographically. In the process this book offers new interpretations of Siena’s artistic political and economic development highlighting in particular the role of pilgrimage banking and class conflict. The second half of the book provides an important analysis of the historical development of Siena’s nobility its unique system of neighborhood associations (<i>contrade</i>) and the race of the Palio as well as an overview of the rise and fall of Siena’s troubled bank the Monte dei Paschi.</p><p>This book is accessible to undergraduates and tourists while also offering plenty of new insights for graduate students and scholars of all periods of Sienese history.</p>