A History of Siena: From its Origins to the Present Day [Hardcover]

A History of Siena provides a concise and up-to-date biography of the city, from its ancient and medieval development up to the present day, and makes Sienas history, culture, and traditions accessible to anyone studying or visiting the city.

Well informed by archival research and recent scholarship on medieval Siena and the Italian city-states, this book places Sienas development in its larger context, both temporally and geographically. In the process, this book offers new interpretations of Sienas 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 Sienas nobility, its unique system of neighborhood associations (contrade) and the race of the Palio, as well as an overview of the rise and fall of Sienas troubled bank, the Monte dei Paschi.

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.

Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I: From the Origins of Siena to the Fall of the Sienese Republic; Chapter 1: The Origins of Siena; Chapter 2: Urban Development and the Formation of the Sienese State (1000-1260); Chapter 3: Sienas Golden Age: Montaperti and Good Government (1260-1355); Chapter 4: Renaissance Siena and the Fall of the Republic (1355-1555); Part II: From the Age of the Medici to the Present Day ; Chapter 5: The Age of the Medici (1557-1737); Chapter 6: From the Enlightenment to the World Wars (1723-1945); Chapter 7: Siena From WWII to the Present Day; Index

A History of Siena provides a concise and up-to-date biography of the city, from its medieval devl*