n 



SIENA. 



SIKRADZ. 



57} 



i wall* have bean made to provide the inhabitants of Qroaseto 

 MM! other pUoM with wholecomo water : and the consequence u that 

 the population u increasing u the malaria decreases, <re*h ground in 

 broken up. and cultivation and life spread along the once desolate 

 wadM. The chief products of the province are com, wine, timber, 

 ilk. potash, and oil 



Orotttlo, the head town, built in the middle ages from the ruins of 

 the Etruscan town of Rubella, which was a few miles distant, lies iu 

 the midst of a wide plain between the Ombrone, the lagoon of 

 Castigliooe, and the sea-coast, from which it is distant 6 miles, and 

 about 46 miles S. from Siena. It is surrounded by walls and bastions, 

 and contains about 2500 inhabitants. It has a bishop's see, and baa 

 nltrioal seminary, and a civil and criminal tribunal for the province. 

 Jfoaw Muritima, a bishop's see and a town with some fine building*, 

 is situated on a hill a few miles from the sea-coast, north-east of 

 Piombino : population, about 8000. At Folionica, on the sea-coast, 10 

 miles S. from Massa, are extensive furnaces aud iron-works, in which 

 the iron from the mines of Elba in smelted. Piombino is a small 

 fortified seaport-town, facing the island of Elba, from which it is 

 ilirMed by a channel about five miles wide. The principality of Piom- 

 bino, which formerly included the isle of Elba, belonged to Prince 

 Bacciocchi, brother-iu-law of Napoleon I., from 1805 till 1815. Piombino 

 is about 40 miles S. from Leghorn, and has about 1 500 inhabitants. 

 Near it are some traces of the ancient Popidonia. The neighbouring 

 lagoon is in progress of being drained. Campiglia, a thriving town 

 in the valley of the Cornia, 10 miles N. from Piombino, stands on 

 a hill, and has a handsome church built in the 12th century, au 

 hospital, and a population of 2200. Orbetello is a considerable town, 

 built on a promontory which projects into the salt lake of Orbetello. 

 The walls of Orbetello are formed of large stones without cement, and 

 the town is strongly fortified on the side of the isthmus which unites 

 it with the mainland. The territory, which extended from the village 

 of Talamone to the States of the Church and included also a portion of 

 the island of Elba, belonged for centuries to Spain, and was ceded in 

 the last century to the king of the Two Sicilies ; but by the treaty of 

 Vienna it was annexed to Tuscany, of which it naturally forms a part. 

 The town of Orbetello has about 3000 inhabitants, and enjoys a healthy 

 climate, though the surrounding country is affected by malaria. 

 The lake abounds with fish. Pitigliano, an inland town in a fine 

 situation in the valley of the Fiora at the foot of the lofty group of 

 Montamiata, has about 2000 inhabitants. The Fiora, which has its 

 source in the mountain of the same name, runa southward, and 

 after a course of about 30 miles in the Tuscan territory enters the 

 States of the Church, and passes near Montalto, after which it enters 

 the sea. 



The island of Giglio, the ancient lyi/ium, which belongs to the pro- 

 vince of Grosseto, is 11 miles W. by S. from Monte Argentaro : it has 

 a harbour on its eastern coast, and a castle with a village on the hill 

 above it. The surface is 6 miles long by 3 miles broad, and hilly ; 

 the rocks are of granitic formation, except in the western part, where 

 they are calcareous. The inhabitants are very industrious, and culti- 

 vate corn and the vine. They export annually 12,000 barrels of wine 

 to the continent. A number of them are fishermen and sailors. 

 Almost all the families are possessed of some landed property. A 

 considerable part of the island U covered with timber trees. When 

 Rome was taken by Alaric a number of the citizens took refuge in 

 this island. 



The neighbouring island of Oiannuli is about 5 miles in circuit : it 

 is destitute of springs, and uninhabited. Some Roman remains have 

 been found upon it, which show that the island was once inhabited. 

 It is the ancient Dianinm, which Pliny says the Greeks called 

 Artfmuia. 



SIENA, a city in Tuscany, is situated on a hill surrounded by 

 other hills, 24 miles S. from Florence, and 45 miles E.S.E. from Leg- 

 born, on the high road from Florence to Home, and has about 20,000 

 inhabitant*. It is 34 miles by railway distant to the south-east 

 from the Empoli junction on the Florence-Pisa railroad. Siena is an 

 archbishop's see ; it has a university, a town library of 50,000 volumes 

 and several ancient and mediaeval manuscripts, a gymnasium, a 

 clerical seminary, several elementary schools, an academy of the fine 

 arta, a deaf and dumb institution, a large hospital, an orphan asylum, 

 a workhouse for the destitute, a savings bank, and an asylum for poor 

 children. The principal manufactures consist of silks and woollens. 



Siena abounds with fine churches. The cathedral, one of the oldest 

 in Italy, is rich in marbles, sculptures, and painting*. The exterior 

 u caed with marble, black and white. The pavement is of white 

 marble, on which numerous figures have been engraved or cut in, 

 representing biblical subjects. In the annexed hall, called the Biblio- 

 theca, are 10 frerooes by Pinturicchio, representing the principal 

 events of the life of Pope Pius II. (JKaem Sylvius Piccolomini of 

 Siena). The splendid chapel of the Chigi family, constructed by 

 Pope Alexander VII., is rich in lapis-lozuli and green marble, bronzes, 

 and statues. The baptistery, which is a separate church detached 

 from the cathedral, as at Pisa and Florence, is an octagon, and 

 entirely cosed with marble inside and out, and adorned with sculp- 

 tures by the earliest Tuscan nrtirts. In the church of Sun Domcnico 

 is a good painting on wood of the Virgin and Child by Guidu di 

 Qhezso of Siena, of the date 1221, long before the birth of Cimabue 



who has been generally considered as the restorer of Italian paiuting. 

 In the academy of the fine arts of Siena there is a paiuting of 

 St. Peter and St. John by Pierrolino of Siena, who flourished about 

 A.D. 1100. Siena abounds with productions of the earlier artists. 

 both of ita own school and of the Florentine school Among the 

 numerous churches, those of San Martino, San Agostino, San Spirito, 

 La Coucezione, and others are rich in paintings by good masters, 

 In the street Dell' Oca is the house, now converted into an oratory, 

 in which Saint Catherine of Siena was born in 1347. 



The Piazza del Campo is concave, in the form of a shell, and sur- 

 rounded by arcades, and adorned with a fountain : it was onco tho 

 forum of the republic of Siena. Eleven streets branch out of it. 

 Thin piazza is immortalised by Dante in the llth canto of his 

 Purgatorio. The streets of Siena are generally narrow, crooked, 

 and uneven. The general appearance is that of an old decayed city. 

 In the 14th century, before the great plague of 1348, the population 

 of Siena and its suburbs amounted to 180,000. The people of Siena 

 are noted for the purity and melody of their speech. 



Among the palaces the most remarkable is the Palazzo del Puulico, 

 or town-house, a massive structure of the middle ages, which is 

 adorned with frescoes of the 13th aud 14th centuries, commemorating 

 events of the national history. The palaces Petrucci, Piccolomini, 

 Saraciiii, Bandinelli, and Buonsignori contain some good paintings. 

 The town-gate, called Porta Camullia, is remarkable for its archi- 

 tecture. Siena is well supplied with good water by aqueducts from 

 the neighbouring hills, aud is adorned with several handsome 

 fountains. 



Siena is mentioned among the Roman colonies by the name of 

 Sena Julia or Sena. (Plin., iii. 5.) It is mentioned as a bishop's 

 see iu the 6th century. A council was held at Siena in 1058, wherein 

 Pope Nicholas II. was elected. In tho struzgle between Gregory VII. 

 and Henry IV., Siena generally espoused the cause of the emperor, 

 Florence that of the Pope ; and the two republics were there- 

 fore frequently at war. In 1258 Farinata degli Uberti, being 

 exiled from Florence with other Ghibelines by the Guelph party, 

 retired to Siena, where being joined by reinforcements from Sicily 

 and Pisa, he marched with the militia of Siena to meet the Guelphs 

 at Monte Aperto near the Arbia, aud defeated them completely with 

 the loss of 10,000 killed, and as many prisoners. The carroccio of 

 Florence was dragged in triumph to Siena. After the establishment 

 of Charles of Anjou at Naples, the Guelphs obtained for a time tho 

 preponderance at Siena, and the Ghibelines were banished. In the 

 meantime Siena extended its dominion over the lowlands of the 

 Maremma as far as the sea, but it never became a naval power like 

 Pisa. For the last half of the 14th century the republic of Siena 

 was torn by dissensions between the nobles, and a party led by the 

 Salimbeni (themselves nobles), who wished to remodel the govern- 

 ment. In 1384 the reformers were driven away to the number of 

 4000 ; the whole of the nobles who had been previously exiled 

 returned into the town. 



In 1432 the emperor Sigismund came to Siena, where he was 

 received with great honour. In 1400 Pope Pius II. visited Siena, 

 his native town, and strove, but with little success, to put an end to 

 the civil discord which ever lurked in the bosom of that republic. In 

 1482 a new tumult broke out; many persons were arrested, some 

 thrown out of the windows of the town-house, others beheaded in 

 various prisons, and the rest banished, fined, and excluded for ever 

 from civil offices. The old party of the reformers was then recalled, 

 aud the government became more democratic, but not more orderly ; 

 for factions continued to rage among the people. In 1487 the exiles 

 entered the city by stratagem, and took possession of the state. A 

 council of 720 citizens was then appointed from among various 

 parties, which appointed an executive council of 24 individuals for 

 five years, on the condition that the public offices should be no longer 

 given by favour, but drawn for by lot. Pandolfo Petrucci, a citizen 

 of an old family of Siena, an able unscrupulous man, rose to influ- 

 ential eminence by his activity iu conducting the business of the 

 council. He made himself still more powerful in the subsequent 

 general disturbances of Italy, and became in reality the dictator of 

 Siena. I'etrucci died in 1512. His sons, not having the capacity 

 of their father, did not long retain power, and were obliged to 

 emigrate. 



After the fall of Florence iu 1530, Siena retained for many years 

 its republican government, under the protection of Charles V. ; but 

 civil dissensions continuing, the emperor sent a Spanish garrison to 

 enforce order, in 1547, and began building a castle to overawe the 

 town. In 1552 the citizens, weary of Spanish interference, rose in 

 arms and drove the Spaniards away, and applied for assistance to 

 Henry II. of France, who sent them a small garrison. They also 

 made common cause with the Florentine exiles led by Pietro Strozzi, 

 which gave to Duke Cosmo of Florence an opportunity of interfering 

 in the affairs of Siena. His troops, united to those of the emperor, 

 destroyed the towns and villages which remained faithful to Siena. 

 It wus then that the Maremma was reduced to a wilderness. At last, 

 in April, 1555, Siena capitulated through famine. In 1557 it was 

 given up by Spain to Duke Cosmo, who reunited it with the rest of 

 Tuscany, of which it has ever since formed a part. 



SIERADZ. [POLAND.] 







