Walking Tours and Routes in Siena

Walking routes in Siena

Siena is built on three ridges that meet near the Campo, and the old city is divided into three districts called terzi: Citta in the southwest with the Duomo, Camollia in the north along Via Banchi di Sopra, and San Martino in the southeast around the Campo. The centre is closed to ordinary traffic, so walking is the way to see it, but the lanes are steep, in places with gradients of 18 to 20 per cent, and the paving is slippery stone. Wear shoes with grip. Standard wheelchairs struggle in much of the centre.

The classic circuit

Allow about three and a half hours for roughly 4 km, more with museum stops.

  1. Start on Piazza del Campo and look at the nine brick segments of its fan, said to stand for the Council of Nine. Pass the Fonte Gaia, whose carved marble panels are now replicas.
  2. Climb the Costarella dei Barbieri to Via di Citta, past the curving Palazzo Chigi-Saracini.
  3. Reach Piazza del Duomo for the striped marble facade and Santa Maria della Scala.
  4. Descend the stone steps to Piazza San Giovanni and the Baptistery.
  5. Follow Via dei Pellegrini under the old arches into Banchi di Sopra and past the Gothic Palazzo Tolomei.
  6. At Piazza Salimbeni, see the palace of Monte dei Paschi, a bank founded in 1472 and still working.
  7. Walk down Via della Sapienza to the Basilica di San Domenico, for the view across the Fontebranda valley to the Duomo.

Contrada emblems and fountains

Seventeen contrade, neighbourhoods with their own flags and colours, divide Siena. Look for the ceramic plaques and emblems on corners that mark their borders. Contrada fountains, where babies are baptised each spring, include the Dragon fountain in Piazza Matteotti, the Goose fountain at Fontebranda, the Porcupine fountain on Via Camollia and the Tortoise fountain in Piazza Postierla. Do not wear the scarf of a rival contrada in someone else’s district.

The Via Francigena through town

Siena was a stop on the pilgrim road from Canterbury to Rome. Enter by Porta Camollia, whose inscription reads, in Latin, that Siena opens her heart to you wider than this gate. Then walk south along Via Camollia and Via Banchi di Sopra, round the rim of the Campo, past Santa Maria dei Servi and out through the great Porta Romana.

Getting up the hill

From the railway station, 62 m below the walls and about 2 km away, a free mechanised ascent runs up to the Antiporto at Porta Camollia. It does not reach the Duomo or the Campo. A second escalator, the Costone, lifts you from the Fontebranda side towards Via di Valle Piatta, near Santa Caterina car park and the Duomo. A third serves San Francesco.

Guided options

Operators run walking tours in English; compare itineraries, group size and what is included. Tickets to the Duomo and museums are normally separate from a street tour, and the Bottini tunnels are visited with their own volunteer guides, with groups of ten and no children under 8.

Read more: sightseeing in Siena and Siena in 2 days .

Official information: Bottini guided visits and Duomo opening times . Tours to compare: Siena walking tours on GetYourGuide .