ABBADIA SAN SALVATORE

Museo dell'Abbazia di San Salvatore
Founded in the Longobard period, the abbey of San Salvatore is mentioned for the first time in a document dated 762; in the 11th century it was re-built in Romanesque style and in the following centuries was re-built several times. The museum houses liturgical items from the abbey and other local churches. Particularly interesting are the so-called chasuble of Saint Mark Pope, an 8th-century reliquary and a reliquary bust of the head of Saint Mark Pope dating from the 14th century. The museum exhibits also paintings, silver items, books and a 15th-century majolica floor.

Parco Museo Minerario
A collection of minerals, work tools, documents, industrial designs and photographs document the history of one of the most important mercury mines in the world, which in the past centuries operated in the territory of Abbadia San Salvatore.


ASCIANO

Museo Cassioli
The museum situated in the rooms of an old primary school is the only museum in the province of Siena entirely devoted to the Sienese painting of the 19th century. On display are works by the two former directors of the Istituto di Belle Arti, Francesco Nenci and Luigi Mussini, as well as a wide collection of paintings, sketches and drawings by purist painter Amos Cassioli and his son Giuseppe.

Museo Civico Archeologico e d'Arte Sacra
The museum set up in Palazzo Corboli exhibits a collection of sacred art formerly housed in the basilica of Sant'Agata and archaeological finds unearthed in the area. On display in the sacred art section are paintings and wooden sculptures by the most important Sienese artists from the 14th and 15th century. The archaeological section consists of Etruscan finds dating from the 5th to the 1st century BC brought to light in the necropolis of Poggio Pinci and in the Molinello barrow. The museum has also an interesting collection of gold items, liturgical furnishings and ceramics.

Museo dell'Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore
The museum is set up in the chapter house of the abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, one of the most important monuments in Tuscany, which houses such masterpieces as the fresco cycle by Luca Signorelli and Sodoma depicting the "Life of Saint Benedict", a collection of enamelled terracottas attributed to the Della Robbia, the wooden choir and a sculpture by Fra Giovanni da Verona. In the chapter house are paintings from the 14th to the 16th century and a wooden crucifix from the 16th century.


BUONCONVENTO

Museo d'Arte Sacra della Val d'Arbia
The museum is situated in Palazzo Ricci-Sodini, a beautiful Art Nouveau building in the centre of Buoconvento. It exhibits sculptures, paintings and sacred furnishings and vestments dating from the 14th to the 18th century, including a "Madonna with Child" by Duccio di Buoninsegna.

Museo Etnografico della Mezzadria
Through historic photographs, film footage, replicas of various settings, domestic objects and work tools, the Sharecroppers' Museum housed in an ancient wine-fermentation room documents a social model and way of life common in Tuscany in the 19th and 20th century, which has only recently disappeared.


CASOLE D'ELSA

Museo Archeologico e della Collegiata
The museum set up in the rectory of the collegiate church of Santa Maria Assunta exhibits sculptures and paintings by Florentine and Sienese artists dating from the 14th to the 17th century, as well as a sizeable collection of reliquaries, candlesticks and sacred furnishings and vestments. The museum has also a small archaeological section containing funeral gifts, cinerary urns, coins and gold, iron and bronze items unearthed in local necropolises.


CASTELNUOVO BERARDENGA

Museo Tematico del Paesaggio
The innovative Landscape Theme Museum illustrates the relationship between human beings and the surrounding territory through a series of educational panels, documents, archaeological finds, photographs and slide shows.


CETONA

Museo Civico per la Preistoria del Monte Cetona
The Prehistory of Monte Cetona Civic Museum is located in Palazzo Minutelli, a building dating from the second half of the 16th century and documents the earliest human settlements on Mount Cetona, from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. In proximity to the museum is the Belvedere Archaeological Naturalist Park.


CHIANCIANO TERME

Museo Civico Archeologico delle Acque
The Archaeological Civic Museum of Water exhibits Etruscan archaeological finds from the 7th to the 2nd century BC. Of particular interest are the reconstruction of a chamber-style tomb from the 7th century BC with sumptuous bronze furnishings, the pediment of a sacred building brought to light near the Fucoli spring and a bronze chariot unearthed near the Sillene spring. A section of the museum is devoted to the gods and goddesses linked to the theme of water, whereas another section illustrates the exploitation of thermal waters in the area in Roman times.

Museo della Collegiata di San Giovanni Battista
The museum set up in Palazzo dell'Arciprete exhibits paintings on wood and canvas and works of art from local churches dating from the 13th to the 19th century, including a "Madonna" from Nicola Pisano's workshop, a "Crucifix" by Segna di Bonaventura and a polyptych with a "Madonna and Saints" by the Maestro di Chianciano. The museum has also a collection of sacred furnishings.


CHIUSI

Museo Archeologico Nazionale
The museum documents the evolution of art and culture in Chiusi from the Bronze Age to Longobard times through archaeological finds, including a collection of canopic vases, that is, cinerary urns with lids in the form of human heads, and several urns made in Chiusi between the 3rd and 1st century BC.

Museo Civico - Sezione Epigrafica
The highly atmospheric chambers under Chianciano Terme dating from Etruscan times house an extraordinary number of funeral inscriptions dating from the late 3rd to the 1st century BC. The inscriptions have helped to reconstruct the histories of hundreds of Etruscan families.

Museo della Cattedrale e Labirinto di Porsenna
The museum displays illuminated manuscripts from the abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, archaeological finds from the catacombs of Santa Caterina and Santa Mustiola, sacred hangings, paintings from Siena school dating from the 16th to 18th century and gold and silver items from the 15th to the 18th century. The museum gives access to the so-called Porsenna's Labyrinth, a network of underground passages conceived by the Etruscans in the 6th century BC, which are connected to the houses by means of cisterns and wells. Tradition identifies the network of passages with the sepulchre of the Etruscan king Porsenna, described by Pliny the Elder.


COLLE DI VAL D'ELSA

Museo Archeologico "Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli"
The museum set up in 14th-century Palazzo del Podestà exhibits prehistoric and Etruscan material found in Upper Valdelsa, especially in the necropolises of Le Ville and Dometaia. Of particular interest is the reconstruction of an Etruscan 3rd-century kiln unearthed in Quartaia. Also on display is the Terrosi collection, which consists of archaeological finds brought to light between the 19th and the 20th century in land belonging to the Terrosi family.

Museo Civico e Diocesano d'Arte Sacra
The museum located in the Town Hall or Palazzo dei Priori displays works dating from the 13th to the 18th century. Particularly interesting are a "Maestà" by the Maestro di Badia a Isola and a painted wooden "Crucifix" dating from the early 14th century. The museum exhibits also the so-called treasure of Galognano: a collection of 6th-century Eucharistic silverware, which testifies to the existence of an Ostrogoth Christian community.

Museo del Cristallo
The museum housed in an underground space in an area of old glass and crystal works documents the history of crystal making in Colle di Val d'Elsa from the 19th century to the present through the reproduction of a traditional work environment and a collection of modern work tools. The museum has also a collection of glassware dating from the 14th and 15th centuries.


MONTALCINO

Fortezza di Montalcino
The fortress was built in the 1361 incorporating pre-existing 13th-century structures. With its pentagonal plan and its angular towers, it is an excellent example of military architecture. The outer buttress and the Medici coat of arm on the outer walls date from the 16th century. At that time the fortress became the last stronghold of resistance by the Republic of Siena against the Medici conquest.

Museo Civico e Diocesano d`Arte Sacra
Housed in the 15th-century former monastery of Sant'Agostino, the museum is the result of the merging of two pre-existing museums and is devoted to local artistic production from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. On display are wooden sculptures by the most important artists of the Middle Ages, from Jacopo della Quercia to Francesco di Valdambrino, as well as medieval majolica, fabrics and miniatures.

Museo del Vetro
The museum is housed in a wing of the castle of Poggio alle Mura and illustrates the history of glassmaking from antiquity to the present. The itinerary focuses in particular on the production of wine bottles. On display are Roman ewers, cruets, plates and glasses, a collection of Venetian blown glass and some artistic bottle by modern artists.


MONTEPULCIANO

Museo Civico e Pinacoteca Crociani
The museum is housed in Palazzo Neri Orselli, a 14th-century building that over the course of the centuries has been enlarged incorporating pre-existing structures. On display are Etruscan and Roman everyday items and funeral gifts, ceramics and everyday objects dating from the 13th to the 15th century that have been found in the basement of the building, paintings by Sienese and Florentine artists from the 13th to the 18th century and some terracottas by the Della Robbia.


MONTERIGGIONI

Eremo di San Leonardo al Lago
The ancient Augustinian hermitage owes its name to the fact in the place where it stands in the past lay Lake Verano, which was dried out in the 18th century. The hermitage is documented from as early as 1112, but the present church was built between the 13th and the 14th century. The ruins of the walls and two towers are all that remains of the fortification built in 1366 around the monastery in order to take in the inhabitants of nearby Santa Colomba in times of war. The church is decorated with a cycle of frescoes by Lippo Vanni, dated between 1360 and 1370 and dedicated to the Virgin. In the former chapter house is a "Crucifixion" attributed to Giovanni di Paolo.


MURLO

Antiquarium di Poggio Civitate Museo Archeologico
The museum housed in the former Palazzo dei Vescovi exhibits Etruscan finds from the necropolises of Poggio Aguzzo and Poggio Civitate. The finds include gold, silver, bone and ivory items dating from the 7th-6th century BC. Of particular interest is the reconstruction of the terracotta decoration of a noble residence.


PIENZA

Museo Archeologico e della Città
The museum housed in the ancient San Carlo Borromeo conservatory features a historical and an archaeological section. The former illustrate the development of the town`s urban fabric, whereas the latter exhibits material and documentation relating to prehistoric, Etruscan and Roman times, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Museo Diocesano d`Arte Sacra
The museum is housed in the Palazzo Vescovile, an ancient Gothic building Pope Pius II bestowed to Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, who ascended the papal throne with the name of Alexander VI. On display are works of art and church furnishings from the 13th to the 18th century coming from the Duomo of Pienza and the churches of the diocese.

Museo Palazzo Piccolomini
The Florentine architect Bernardo Rossellino designed the building in the second half of the 15th century taking inspiration from the Florentine Palazzo Rucellai. The residence of Pope Pius II demonstrates that the history of Pienza is strictly linked to that of the Piccolomini family. The museum exhibits paintings, sculptures, Flemish tapestries and furniture dating from the 15th to the 18th century. The library has rare books, incunabula and documents from the times of popes Pius II and Pius III.


POGGIBONSI

Castello dei Franzesi di Staggia
The burg of Staggia, mentioned for the first time in documents dating from the 10th-11th century, belonged to the Soarsi and Franzesi families before being acquired by the Florentine Republic. Around 1431, Filippo Brunelleschi directed the works for the consolidation of the fortification built in 1372. At present, the towers and two of the three original gates are still visible.

Collezione di Ex Voto del Santuario del Romituzzo
The museum set up in the rooms adjoining the church of the Madonna del Romituzzo exhibits about 500 papier-mâché votive offerings representing human anatomical parts and around 90 paintings. The votive offerings date from the 16th to the 19th century.

Fortezza di Poggio Imperiale e Centro di Documentazione del Cassero di Poggibonsi
Giuliano da Sangallo designed the Medicean fortress in the second half of the 15th century for Lorenzo the Magnificent. Built between 1505 and 1522, the keep houses a documentation centre illustrating the history of the site from ancient times to the 16th century. On display is a collection of ceramics, coins, glassware and everyday items.

Raccolta d`Arte Sacra di Staggia
The exhibition is housed in a room adjoining the church of Santa Maria Assunta, a Romanesque building that was renovated in the early 20th century. The collection includes a painting on wood by Antonio del Pollaiolo, other works by Florentine and Sienese artists and sacred items dating from the 14th to the 16th century.

Museo di Paleontologia
The Museum of Palaeontology exhibits fossils from Valdarno, including some mini- and micro-fossils that are to be examined through magnifying glasses, and the bones of some animals. A section of the museum is devoted to the evolution of human beings from prehistory up to modern times, whereas the archaeological section features the remains of a tomb from the Chalcolithic period.


RADDA IN CHIANTI

Piccolo Museo del Chianti
The Little Museum of Chianti illustrate the life of the peasants in Chianti countryside through a collection of domestic items and objects for agricultural and craftsmen`s production.


RADICOFANI

Fortezza e Museo del Cassero
Mentioned for the first time in a document dating from 973, over the course of the centuries the stronghold was involved in the struggle between Siena and Florence and the object of several passages of property. The museum housed in the keep documents the history of the castle through panels, models and virtual reconstructions. The museum exhibits also archaeological finds from Etruscan times to the 16th century.


RADICONDOLI

Museo delle Energie
The Energy Museum set up in the rooms of a renovated ancient building illustrates the local energy sources, in particular the fumaroles and sources of geothermal energy, through photographs, models and explanatory panels.


RAPOLANO TERME

Museo dell`Antica Grancia di Serre
Granges were fortified farms that developed in the vast estate owned by the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena. The Museum of the Grange housed in the Serre complex is divided into two sections: the first one is devoted to olive oil and exhibits a collection of implements and materials from the 20th century; the second documents the development of the fortified farms in Siena countryside.


SAN GIMIGNANO

Museo d`Arte Sacra e Collegiata di San Gimignano
The museum displays a collection of paintings on wood and on canvas, sculptures, terracottas, funeral monuments, silverware, fabrics and books of anthems dating from the 12th to the 19th century and coming from the cathedral of San Gimignano and other local churches. The walls of the adjoining collegiate church are decorated with frescoes by Ghirlandaio, Benozzo Gozzoli, Barna da Siena and Bartolo di Fredi.

Museo Ornitologico
The Ornithological Museum housed in the church of San Francesco has 371 taxidermied birds which marquise Marianna Panciatichi Ximenes bequeathed to the town. The specimens were gathered between 1866 and 1911 mainly in the estate of Villa del Monte.

Palazzo Comunale - Pinacoteca - Torre Grossa
The Palazzo Comunale was built between 1289 and 1298 on the ruins of a pre-existing building and then was enlarged several times in the following two centuries. The rooms of the palace are decorated with fresco cycles by Azzo di Masetto, Memmo di Filipuccio and Lippo Memmi dating from the late 13th and the first half of the 14th century. The building houses also the historical Art Gallery, which displays works by Florentine and Sienese artists from the 13th to the 16th century. The palace has an access to the 14th-century Torre Grossa, San Gimignano highest tower.

Spezieria di Santa Fina - Museo Archeologico e Galleria d`Arte Moderna e Contemporanea "R. De Grada"
The former Conservatory of Santa Chiara houses three museums: the Spezieria (or Pharmacy) of Santa Fina, the Archaeological Museum and the Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery "R. De Grada". The history of the pharmacy is directly connected to that of the Hospital of Santa Fina, which was founded in the second half of the 13th century. The pharmacy was created in 1505 and operated until the end of the 19th century. The museum displays a collection of ceramic jars from the second half of the 15th to the 17th century, glass receptacles, and furnishings. In one of the rooms a 19th-century pharmacy is reproduced, while the other contains the reconstruction of a laboratory. The Archaeological Museum exhibits finds from Etruscan, Roman and medieval times, whereas the Art Gallery displays works by Tuscan and Italian painters from the 19th and 20th centuries.


SARTEANO

Museo Civico Archeologico
The museum set in the 16th-century Palazzo Gabrielli houses a collection of finds from the Bronze Age to late Roman times unearthed in local necropolises.


SIENA

Battistero di San Giovanni
The baptistery was built between 1317 and 1325. The unfinished marble façade in Sienese Gothic was built between 1355 and 1382. The hexagonal baptismal font at the centre is an exquisite example of Renaissance sculpture. The marble, glaze and bronze font was realised between 1417 and 1431 by some of the most important 15th-century artists: Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Jacopo della Quercia (to whom is attributed the design), Giovanni di Turino and Goro di Neroccio. The frescoes that decorate the vaults and the apsis are mainly by Lorenzo du Pietro, also known as "Vecchietta".

Centro Universitario per la Tutela e la Valorizzazione dell'Antico Patrimonio Scientifico Senese
The University Centre for Safeguarding and Promoting Siena`s Ancient Scientific Heritage aims at collecting Siena whole historical-scientific heritage in a single organised repertory, as well as exhibiting to the public selections of the items it possesses in rotation. At present, the Centre has a wide collection of instruments pertinent to various medical disciplines dating from the 17th to the 20th century and a second collection of scientific glassware from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Complesso Museale di Santa Maria della Scala
Santa Maria della Scala is one of Europe`s most ancient hospitals: the cathedral canons founded it to shelter the pilgrims who went to Rome along the Via Francigena, take in abandoned children and assist the poor. The hospital is mentioned in a document from 1090. The cycle of frescoes on the walls of the so-called "Pellegrinaio", the large room where pilgrims where sheltered, illustrate the hospital`s relief activities. The frescoes were painted between 1441 and 1444. The ancient hospital has been renovated and transformed into a museum and cultural centre. The underground chambers house an interesting archaeological museum. Santa Maria della Scala Museum Complex includes also the Museo d`Arte per Bambini, the Centro d`Arte Contemporanea/SMS Contemporanea and the Biblioteca e Fototeca d`Arte di Giuliano Briganti, as well as many exhibition and congress facilities.

Duomo di Siena
The cathedral dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta was built in the 13th century on the ruins of a pre-existing building. The works for the enlargement of the building started in 1339, but they were interrupted in 1348 due to the black-death plague that hit whole Europe. The façade of the cathedral was built in two stages: between 1284 and 1297 Giovanni Pisano realised the lower part; the upper part is by Camaino di Crescentino and was built between 1299 and 1317. The cathedral houses works by Michelangelo, Donatello and Bernini. Nicola Pisano realised the pulpit between 1265 and 1268. The wonderful inlaid floor made between the 14th and 16th century by about forty artists is visible only six-ten weeks a year. Along the left aisle is the Libreria Piccolomini, built by order of Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini Todeschini in honour of his uncle Pope Pius II. The walls and ceiling are decorated with dazzling frescoes by Pinturicchio, illustrating episodes of the life of Pope Pius II.

Fortezza Medicea
The fortress was built in 1560 by order of Cosimo I de` Medici with the purpose of serving as a garrison against possible attempts by the Sienese to regain their independence after the town had fallen first to the Spanish and then to Florence. The building stands on the site of the ancient Spanish fortress, which the Sienese laid waste in 1552. In the second half of the 16th century the original L-shaped construction was transformed in today`s square building. The fortress was demilitarised in the late 18th century and transformed into a public garden.

Herbarium Universitatis Senensis
Founded in 1860, the Herbarium Universitatis Senensis was composed of a general herbarium and a Tuscan herbarium. The two herbariums were rearranged in 1916-17. Today it has a historic collection including some important herbariums dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, and a modern collection.

Museo Aurelio Castelli
The museum is housed in the rooms adjoining to the basilica dell`Osservanza, a church built in the early 15th century, and is dedicated to Aurelio Castelli, who collected a series of works of arts that had been scattered following the suppression of convents. The museum exhibits prints, sculptures, seals, paintings, 17 illuminated anthem books from the 15th century, sacred vestments from the 15th to the 17th century and a precious 13th-century tractate with illuminations by Francesco di Giorgio Martini.

Museo dell`Opera del Duomo
The museum set in room adjoining to the Duomo of Siena, which according to the original design would have been the right aisle of the so-called Duomo Nuovo (the new cathedral), if the works for the enlargement of the church started in the 14th century had been finished. On display are the sculptures by Giovanni Pisano that used to decorate the façade of the cathedral, many works by Duccio di Buoninsegna, including the "Maestà" that until 1505 decorated the cathedral`s main altar, sculptures by Jacopo della Quercia and Donatello, various paintings by artists from Siena school and an interesting collection of gold and silver items.

Museo della Contrada Capitana dell`Onda
The museum housed in the crypt of the church of San Giuseppe displays the palios won by the Contrada of the Wave and a collection of plaster models by the sculptor Giovanni Dupré. The walls of the crypt are decorated with frescoes by Giuseppe Nicola Nasini and Apollonio Nasini.

Museo della Contrada del Bruco
The museum contains sacred furnishings, costumes, flags, palios and archive material, some of which date back to the 17th century.

Museo della Contrada del Drago
The museum is set up in the 17th-century church of Santa Caterina del Paradiso, where paintings by Raffaello Vanni, Francesco Rustici and Domenico Manetti are kept, as well as a bust of Santa Caterina by Lorenzo Marrina, a 15th-century wooden crucifix, sacred items, reliquaries and embroidered chasubles. The museum exhibits the palios won by the Contrada of the Dragon, including that of 1724, ancient flags and uniforms.

Museo della Contrada del Leocorno
The museum is housed in the rooms adjoining to the church of San Giovannino della Staffa, a 16th-century building attributed to Giovan Battista Pelori. The church has interesting frescoes by Rutilio Manetti, a painting of the "Madonna of the Peace" attributed to Francesco di Vannuccio, a statue in polychrome terracotta representing Saint John the Baptist attributed to Giacomo Cozzarelli and paintings by 17th-century Sienese artists. On display in the museum are the palios won by the Contrada of the Unicorn, by Sienese and Italian artists.

Museo della Contrada dell`Aquila
The museum is housed in the 16th-century Palazzo Agazzari-Nastasi. On display are the palios won by the Contrada of the Eagle and other items concerning the Palio and its history, including a precious palio dating back to 1719, Siena's oldest surviving "drappellone". The museum sequence includes also the 17th-century Oratorio dei Tredici, whose walls are decorated with paintings dating from the 17th century. In the sacristy are sacred furnishings from the 17th century and gold items from the 15th and 16th centuries. Two rooms display costumes ancient and modern, and flags of the contrada.

Museo della Contrada dell`Oca
The headquarters of the Contrada of the Goose is in an ancient staple belonging to Saint Catherine's father and transformed into an oratory in the second half of the 15 century. The oratory is decorated with frescoes by the most important 16th-century Sienese artists, and it has also a wooden statue of Saint Catherine by Bartolomeo Neroccio. The museum has a collection of the palios won by the contrada, paintings, drawings, silver items and other objects relating to the contrada and the Palio.

Museo della Contrada della Chiocciola
The museum displaying sacred furnishings and vestments belonging to the Contrada of the Snail was the first museum of this kind to be founded in Siena. It adjoins to the church of Santi Pietro e Paolo, which is the headquarters of the contrada. The church was built in the 17th century and then renovated in the 19th century, and houses paintings by Andrea and Raffaello del Brescianino, Astolfo Petrazzi and Ventura Salimbeni. The museum consists of two rooms: the Room of the Sacred Furnishings, which displays liturgical items from the 15th to the 18th century, and the Room of the Victories, which exhibits the palios won by the contrada, the "masgalani" the contrada has obtained for the best appearance in the parade preceding the race, items related to the Palio and costumes that are not used anymore and dating from the late 19th to the early 20th century.

Museo della Contrada della Civetta
The museum is houses in the Castellare degli Ugurgeri, a fortified nucleus dating back to the 13th century, which nowadays is the headquarters of the Contrada of the Little Owl. On display are the palios and "masgalani" (awards for the best appearance in the parade) won by the contrada, memorabilia, trophies and old and new costumes. The museum features also paintings from the second half of the 20th century and sculptures by Sienese artists.

Museo della Contrada della Lupa
The Oratorio di San Rocco, a 16th-century building whose walls are decorated with frescoes depicting the life of Job by Domenico and Rutilio Manetti, Astolfo Petrazzi and Bernardino Mei, houses the headquarters of the Contrada of the She-Wolf. The museum is set up in the crypt and consists of various rooms: the Room of Victories, which exhibits the palios won by the contrada; the Room of the Armours; the Room of the Uniforms, which exhibits a collection of costumes; the Room of the Sacred Hangings, with the furnishings of the Company of San Rocco; the Meeting Room, with the "masgalani" won by the contrada for the best appearance in the historical parade.

Museo della Contrada della Pantera
The museum is situated on the hill of San Quirico, the highest place in Siena. On display are the palios and "masgalani" won by the contrada over the course of the centuries, uniforms and memorabilia, as well as archive material, works of art and sacred hangings from the 17th to the 19th century.

Museo della Contrada della Selva
The museum is housed in the crypt of the church of San Sebastiano in Vallepiatta, which dates back to the late 15th century. The church has paintings by Benvenuto di Giovanni, Guidoccio Cozzarelli, Rutilio Manetti and Raffaello Vanni; numerous sacred furnishing are in the sacristy. The museum presents the palios won by the Contrada of the Forest; of particular importance are those by Mino Maccari (August 1970) and Ugo Altardi (August 1974).

Museo della Contrada della Tartuca
On display in the two rooms of the museum are the palios won by the Contrada of the Tortoise, memorabilia, uniforms and sacred items. The oratory dedicated to Sant'Antonio da Padova was built between 1682 and 1685, and is a rare example of Baroque architecture in Siena.

Museo della Contrada della Torre
The visit to the museum begins in the Oratorio dei Santi Giacomo e Cristoforo, which was built in the 16th century and renovated 200 years later. The oratory has works of art by Sodoma, Giovanni di Lorenzo and Rutilio Manetti. The museum exhibits the palios won by the Contrada of the Tower, uniforms, "masgalani" and a collection of silver items dating from the 16th to the 19th century. The headquarters of the contrada has also a bell cast in 1532 and decorated with the crest of the Tower and an image of the Madonna.

Museo della Contrada di Valdimontone
The museum is divided into two sections: the ancient Oratorio di San Leonardo has the uniforms and other items belonging to the Contrada of the Valley of the Ram, whereas the palios won by the contrada are in the new headquarters, designed by architect Giovanni Michelucci and inaugurated in 1997. Next to it is the Oratorio della Santissima Trinità, which was built in the early 16th century and is decorated with Mannerist and Baroque works of art.

Museo della Contrada Imperiale della Giraffa
The headquarters of the Contrada of the Giraffe is located in the underground rooms of the 16th-17th-century basilica of Santa Maria di Provenzano. On display are the palios won by the contrada, including the triptych (of the Kingdom, Empire and Republic) by virtue of which the contrada is defined as "Royal, Imperial and Republican" and those painted by Guttuso (1971), Vespignani (1983), Tommasi Ferroni (1986), Tadini (July 1997) and Borgianni (August 1997).

Museo della Contrada Sovrana dell'Istrice
The museum is housed in the rooms adjoining to the oratory of the Contrada of the Crested Porcupine, which in the past constituted a Romanic church dedicated to San Vincenzo and Sant'Anastasio. It has paintings from the 17th-century Sienese school, a terracotta bust by Pinturicchio, paintings from the Neapolitan school (17th and 18th century) and the marble sepulchre of the Provençale knight Luigi de Chamelet. The museum documents the history of the contrada through the palios it has won, uniforms, weapons, sacred hangings and silver items.

Museo della Nobile Contrada del Nicchio
The museum documents the history of the Contrada of the Seashell through the palios it has won, the uniforms worn by the jockeys between 1839 and 1955, collections of ceramic (15th century) and silver (15th-19th century) items, sacred hangings from the 16th to the 18th century and works by Giovanni di Stefano, Francesco Rustichini and Benedetto da Maiano. The adjoining oratory dedicated to San Gaetano da Thiene has frescoes by Nicola and Apollonio Nasini and sculptures by Giacomo Franchini.

Museo della Società di Esecutori di Pie Disposizioni
On display in the museum housed in some rooms of the former convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli, also known as convent of the Santuccio, are works by important artists of the Sienese school dating from the 14th to the 16th century.

Museo di Storia Naturale dell`Accademia dei Fisiocritici
Siena Academy of Sciences, also known as Accademia dei Fisiocritici ("fisiocritici" means nature's judges) was founded in 1691 to promote natural history studies, and over the course of the centuries had among its members such important scientists as Lazzaro Spallanzani, Carl Linnaeus, Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Alessandro Volta and Louis Pasteur. The museum set up in the ancient convent of Santa Mustiola consists of a zoological and a geological section, and has specimens coming especially from southern Tuscany. The historical archive has documents pertinent to the history of the Academy and of Sienese science.

Museo Nazionale dell`Antartide "Felice Ippolito"
"Felice Ippolito" National Museum of the Antarctica has a collection of about 19,000 specimens collected during the Italian expeditions to the Antarctica, as well as more than 1,100 samples of meteorites, animals and plants, both fossilised and living.

Oratorio di San Bernardino - Museo Diocesano d`Arte Sacra
The oratory dedicated to San Bernardino was built in the 15th century and is divided into a lower chapel, which is decorated with frescoes by 17th-century Sienese artists, and an upper chapel decorated with "Scenes from the Life of the Virgin Mary" by Beccafumi, Girolamo del Pacchia and Sodoma. The adjoining museum houses paintings from the 14th to the 17th century by Domenico Beccafumi, Sodoma, Vecchietta, Ventura Salimbeni and Rutilio Manetti, and frescoes by Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti coming from the church of San Francesco.

Orto Botanico dell`Università degli Studi di Siena
The Botanical Garden of the University of Siena was founded in the late 16th century and in 1856 was transferred to its present location. It has an important collection of indigenous plants, as well as specimens of exotic and tropical plants.

Palazzo delle Papesse
According to tradition, the so-called Palazzo delle Papesse, also known as Palazzo Piccolomini, owes its name to the two sisters of Pope Pius II (in the world Enea Silvio Piccolomini), although it was built by order of only one of them, Caterina. In the past the headquarters of the Banca d'Italia, it housed also the Centre of Contemporary Art (nowadays housed in Santa Maria della Scala Museum Complex). Galileo Galilei is said to have lived in the palace from the beginning of July to mid-December 1633, guest of his friend, Archbishop Ascanio Piccolomini.

Palazzo Pubblico
The Palazzo Pubblico (also known as Palazzo Comunale) was built in Piazza del Campo by order of the so-called Council of the Nine between 1297 and 1310. The Torre del Mangia on the left of the palace was built between 1338 and 1348. The top of the tower offers a unique view of the town and the square below. The rooms of the Palazzo Pubblico are frescoed with real masterpieces by famous Italian artists and form the Museo Civico. The Civic Museum houses a "Maestà" by Simone Martini, "Guidoriccio da Fogliano at the Siege of Montemassi", attributed to the same artist, and the cycle of frescoes by Ambrogio Lorenzetti "Allegory and Effects of Good and Bad Government". On display in the rooms of the museum are also works by minor Sienese and Italian artists from the 16th to the 19th century.

Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena
The collection of Siena school paintings is housed in the 14th-century Palazzo Brigidi, residence of Nello Pannocchieschi, the husband of the famous Pia de' Tolomei mentioned by Dante, and Palazzo Buonsignori, which was built in the 15th century. The collection testifies to the evolution of Sienese painting between the 12th and 18th century through works by Duccio di Buoninsegna, Simone Martini, Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Andrea Vanni, Domenico Beccafumi, Rutilio Manetti and many other artists who worked in the town of the Palio.

Raccolta Bologna Buonsignori
The collection created by Clemente Bologna di Montepulciano in the early 20th century includes paintings on wood and on canvas from the 13th to the 20th century; drawings from the 20th century; bronze, ivory and gold items; glassware; coins and medals; Italian and Oriental ceramics and some archaeological findings.

Sinagoga di Siena
The synagogue was built in 1786 by architect Giuseppe del Rosso on the site of pre-existing places of worship. The façade of one of the few examples of Rococo and Neoclassical architecture in the area is very simple, whereas the interior presents a rich decorative stuccowork. The synagogue houses rare fabrics and silver sacred objects produced by Guadagni workshop in Florence.


SINALUNGA

Raccolta d'Arte Sacra della Collegiata di San Biagio a Scrofiano
The collection is housed in the rectory adjoining to the collegiate church of San Biagio, a 13th-century church that was re-built in 1580 and the renovated in 1667 and 1669. The collection includes paintings by Tuscan artists from the 14th, 17th and 18th century, sacred objects, gold items and precious fabrics.


SOVICILLE

Museo Etnografico del Bosco e della Mezzadria
The Ethnographic Museum of Forests and Sharecropping is housed in a renovated barn and documents the life and trades of local sharecroppers, charcoal burners and woodsmen through a collection of implements made of iron and wood and dating from the 20th century.


TREQUANDA

Museo della Terracotta
The Terracotta Museum housed in the Palazzo Pretorio of Petroio documents the local ancient tradition of terracotta manufacture. It is divided into two sections: one is devoted to the history of terracotta and the other to terracotta-making techniques.

Museo d'Arte Sacra
The Museum of Sacred Art housed in the Oratorio della Confraternita della Santissima Trinità e di San Bernardino exhibits paintings on wood by Sienese artists from the 14th to the 16th century, sacred furnishings from the 15th to the 19th century, silver items and some archaeological finds of Etruscan origin.