Siena can still surprise and impress. Its several historical and cultural aspects reveal unexpected details which, together with its prestigious monumental image, create an unrepeatable city. During Telecities Congress the City of Siena will offer 2 guided tours in order to show the real aspects of this historic pearl.

Booking and reservation should be made by contacting directly the Tourist Information Point available for participants every day within the Congress Venue.
All the excursions will be organised with a minimum of 15 persons.

SIENA'S TREAUSURES
Sunday the 1st of December 2002 - 10:00 am

The half day guided tour wants to show Siena’s treasures. Siena was founded by the Romans during the reign of Octavian Augustus. They built a military colony (Saena Julia) on the pre-existing Etruscan settlement. The legend recounts that the mythical brothers Aschius and Senius sons of Remus, are supposed to have fled from the wrath of Romulus, bearing an effigy of the Roman She-wolf, as a symbol of their lost homeland, with them. Siena gets its name from Senius (Senius - Sena - Siena). Roman Siena was never very important, chiefly because it did not lie on any of the main consular roads (Aurelia and Cassia), which originally wound along the coast and through the Chiana Valley. Siena became one of the most important centre of the Region in the XII and XIII century.
The local guide will explain the secret of S. Domenico Church, the main street Banchi di Sopra (where the Monte dei Paschi di Siena was founded in the year 1472), the Cathedral of Santa Maria of the Assumption, (where Michelangelo Buonarroti, Donatello, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano have worked). After the religious part of the town we show you the civil and political centre: Campo Square (1285-1355) that since the Middle Age has been considered the heart of the town. Of all the events in the square, most important was and still is the Palio horse race. It is held here every year on 2 July and on 16 August. The first dedicated to the Virgin of Provenzano and the second to celebrate the Saint Mary of the Assumption.

SIENA'S WATERS
Monday the 2nd of December 2002 - 09:00 am

With a special authorization given by the City of Siena it is possible to visit the famous “bottini” (the ingenious underground aqueduct) and some fountains. In order to channel water from distant Staggia (close Castellina in Chianti) to Campo Square, Giacomo Vanni (later called Giacomo dell’Acqua) spent about eight years digging great underground canals (“the bottini”) which, as they approached the town precincts, widened into brick-lined galleries of exceptional technical and artistic interest. Water was conveyed to Piazza del Campo through a master-conduit, most likely first utilized around 1342. “The Sieneses saluted the event with great rejoicing”, wherefore the fountain, appropriately named Fonte Gaia (Joyous Fountain), was built the following year. The XIV century Fonte Gaia was replaced in 1419 by Jacopo della Quercia and then by Tito Sarrocchi free adaptation of it in 1858. After the visit of the “bottini” we will reach the old Hospital S. Maria della Scala, where the original sculptures by Jacopo della Quercia are now on restoration . We will continue our tour to Fonte Branda, the most famous fountain in Siena; the City paid a lot of money to built it and to maintain it: the fountain must be clean and rich of waters. The mechanism follows a typical Middle Ages system: in the first basin there was drinkable water, in the second one water for the domestics animals and the third one water to wash. Here water has always been considered as essential commodity, as is confirmed by the austere protection afforded its municipal wells by impenetrable walls and merlons. Siena’s perennial thirst even led to the creation of a legend narrating the existence of an underground river called Diana.