Siena ? Your good-bad comments welcome !
 

or suggestions , what to do, where to see, the best or worst...<BR><BR>THank You in advance........<BR><BR>Atilla

Hi<BR>If you search on this message board for Siena you will find many previous postings, including Paulo's<BR>"famous" walking tour of Siena.<BR>If you can't find it, email me and I'll send you my Florence/Siena file which has that and other stuff.<BR>I LOVED Siena, can't wait to go back.<BR>

To be honest, I wasn't all that thrilled with Siena. I like the small towns better. However, we had a few bad experiences there and that has probably affected my opinion. If you do go, do not miss the Cane e Gatto restaurant. It is one of the great lifetime experiences.

Loved Siena..even more than Florence. The weekly street market was a disappointment however. For a very cheap, basic lunch which is fabulous (pasta made right in front of you), try La Torre..1st street to left of the tower on the Campo...you might want to pop in and give the owner (chainsmoking, crabby) a half hours notice that you're coming back - it's that busy and fairly small. Saw people getting huge jugs of wine filled there. Fantastic pasta.

I really enjoyed Siena - much better than Florence. Next time I will stay in Siena and just do day trips to Florence. The best restaurant is Osteria Le Logge. If you are standing looking at the tower on the Campo, it is the little side street to the left and about two blocks up on your left. The best lamb chops I've ever had! Mostly pedestrian only little streets. Great town for just strolling.

It really depends on what you like. Siena is quaint and there's plenty of good food, good wine, and pleasant scenery to be had in Tuscany in general. If we're comparing Siena and Florence, I liked Florence better. I thought there was more to do, and I found it pretty easy to escape the city noise when I needed to by crossing the Arno and going to Boboli Gardens or Piazzale Michelangelo.<BR><BR>I stayed in Siena and Florence on my last trip, and if I had to do it over, I would probably only spend about 2 nights in Siena - use one day to explore the town and one day to take a day trip to one of the hilltowns, probably San Gimignano.<BR><BR>If I ever do go back to Siena again, I think I'd try to go to Palio. It looks like a lot of fun.

We liked Siena a lot...not too big and not too small. I loved the Hotel Santa Caterina. It is just outside the wall and a fifteen minute walk to the Campo. Our favorite restaurant (and we also ate at Cane e Gatto) was Da Divo. It is all personal preference; Vita liked Florence better and I liked Siena better.

Be sure to see St. Catherine's head!

We really enjoyed Siena, although we just visited as a daytrip from Montalcino. I liked staying in Montalcino because it is smaller and quieter. There is a wonderful restaurant in Siena on a sidestreet just off the Campo. The restaurant is called Le Logge, and the food and service are divine. The Duomo in Siena is gorgeous. There are lots of great little gelato shops. It's fun to sit out on the Piazza del Campo and sip a coffee or lemonade and people-watch.

I traveled in Europe for many years before finally visited Siena.We spent two nights there and it was wonderful.Not a lot of major sights,but a wonderful medieval ambiance that is still alive.Please take the time to climb the many(narrow!) steps to the top of the unfinished cathedral. The view is one of the best in Europe.

I remember I loved Seina on our first visit there, about 4 years ago in April. We took a bus from Florence and conveniently walked in to the old town, stopping for lovely thin pizza just out from a wood burning oven. Overall, it was wonderful. But this september, we visited there again and did not enjoy it at all. We drove in and found it very difficult to find parking and it was quite a long walk to the centre after we did. Also, the place looked very touristy, crowded and expensive. I much preferred smaller towns like Montalcino or Peinza.

We spent four nights in Siena and four night in Florence in November. It was a wonderful trip, but if I had it to do over, I would stay two nights in Siena. It is lovely and interesting, but not enough to keep me there for four nights. We did take a day trip to San G. from Siena. We loved our hotel, Palazzo Ravizza, and the restaurant in the hotel was fantastic. Meals were included with our price, so we felt it was an excellent deal.

I loved Siena! It's cleaner and friendlier and has more of its own personality than Florence - not so "Medici"<BR><BR>Try that little restaurant (Ithink it is La Torre that "Canuck" wrote about - facing the Tower, its on the little street on the left on the left side of the street. Has only a few tables and the owner/cook IS chainsmoking and kind of crabby, but he warms up. It was some of the best food we had in Italy - and the cheapest. The Hotel Santa CAterina is very nice, but I didn't at all like the 15 minute walk uphill to the campo, and they have no parking.