Siena at Christmas - Art and architecture in Southern Tuscany

Spilling across three converging hilltops, Siena contains the most extensive and beautifully preserved medieval townscape in Europe. The Queen of Tuscany reached the apogee of her power, wealth and creativity in the High Middle Ages when she was an independent republic. Her great public buildings were constructed during this period: the splendid town hall and extraordinarily ambitious cathedral built to rival Florence. 

There is plenty of excellent Renaissance art here, but it is medieval painting for which the city is best known. The Sienese school reached its pinnacle of refinement before the Black Death in 1348, though great works continued to be produced for the next century and a half. A host of brilliant artists led by Duccio, Simone Martini and the Lorenzetti brothers created a distinctive style of exquisite delicacy – of design, detail and colour – and images which are numinous yet naturalistic.

Long before Siena lost its political independence to Florence in 1555, Florentine and other Tuscan artists had made their impact here, including Giovanni Pisano at the cathedral and Donatello in his bronze sculptures for the baptistery. But Sienese art long preserved its distinctive character and had an enduring influence on cities in the rest of central Italy.

The tour ranges through beautiful landscapes to present many of the finest works of art in southern Tuscany to other little historic cities. Pienza: the first ideal town of the Renaissance, with quattrocento façades and gilt Sienese altarpieces in the cathedral. San Gimignano: hilltop town with a unique cluster of medieval towers and equally spectacular 14th- and 15th-century frescoes. Arezzo: location of the Legend of the True Cross by Piero della Francesca, most beguiling and enigmatic of early Renaissance painters.