When we got to Siena, we were about halfway through our walk to Rome.

We stayed for two nights because:

  • it’s such a beautiful city
  • Tom needed to see a dentist

Here’s what we saw when we arrived:

Piazza del Campo square at night with the tower and square lit up against a moody blue night sky

Almost mist it

On our first morning there, we woke up to find lots of mist and low cloud covering the city.

Undeterred, we went to the main sights and took pictures. Luckily, it cleared up soon afterwards so we can show a before and after for each landmark.

Palazzo del Pubblico

Palazzo del Pubblico in the mist

Palazzo del Pubblico with a grey misty background and the top of its tower lost in the mist

View of the Palazzo del Pubblico tower disappearing into the mist from its internal courtyard

Palazzo del Pubblico in the sun

Palazzo del Pubblico in the sunshine showing the Piazza del Campo in front

Siena Cathedral

Most of Siena Cathedral (also known as Duomo di Siena) is built with alternating layers of black and white marble. Black and white are Siena’s colours so the cathedral designers were clearly briefed to go all in.

This makes it very stripey which Roz really likes.

Siena Cathedral in the mist

Siena Cathedral in the mist with the facade and tower fading into the background

Siena Cathedral tower with the top disappearing into the mist

Siena Cathedral in the sun

Siena Cathedral against a clear blue sky with facade and tower both visible

Siena Cathedral tower against a clear blue sky showing the stripes off

Siena Cathedral facade in the sunshine with the wood and bronze doors at the front

Siena in the sun

After the sun had decided it was here to stay, we took a few other pictures of the city.

Tower of the ex-monastery we stayed in from its courtyard

Blue sky, framed by a street in Siena also showing one of the local streetlights

A massive church, a park and a terrace of houses on a hill all seem from a rooftop in Siena

Tom’s tooth

Most of our ailments on this trip have been foot-related so it was a surprise that Tom’s mouth was the first thing to need serious medical attention. After about a week of increasingly unmanageable pain, we decided that Siena was the place to attempt to fix it.

Some calling around by our hotel’s receptionist found a good dentist. Tom popped down and two hours of bad Italian (from Tom) and good dental work (from them) later he had a new crown.

This anecdote probably won’t form the basis of series 3 of The Crown on Netflix but you never know.