SIENNA, or SIENA, an ancient city of Italy in Tuscany, and capital of a province of the same name, is pleasantly situated on three hills. The streets arc consequently uneven,winding, and narrow, and a great part of the town impassable for carriage. The town is about 5 miles in circumference, and has a very im posing aspect when approached from the south. The houses are in general built with brick, and the streets are paved with the same. The only public square that is reckoned handsome is that which contains the town house, and also a beautiful fountain. The cathedral is a noble gothic building, begun in 1284 and finished in 1333. It is faced both within and without with white and black marble, and considered next in grandeur to St. Peter's. The nave is supported by rows or beau tiful columns, and its pavement is decorated with mo saics. The front is prodigiously loaded with ornaments, and the marble sculpture on the pulpit, and the carv ing in wood on the choir are much admired. Many of the chapels and altars, which are extremely rich, are decorated with beautiful paintings and statues. The church of St. John's, which lies directly under neath the cathedral, may be seen from an opening in the pavement of the choir. The entrance is without on the hill, and the cathedral may thus be said to stand on the church of St. John's.
The town-house already mentioned, is a large Go thic building, surrounded with porticos. The castle, built at an extremity of the city, is not a place of great strength. The university contains 60 professors. It was founded by Charles V. who conferred particular privileges on the German students. An academy of physics and natural history established here, acquired some celebrity from their published memoirs. Near the castle, the university has an academy for martial exercises. A great number of the gentry and literati
reside in Sienna; and the town has acquired a reputa tion for politeness, for a taste for literature and the arts, and for the purity of the Italian which is spoken. The archbishop's palace stands near the cathedral, and opposite to it is a large and well endowed hospital, founded by a shoemaker. Sienna contains many palaces, fountains, churches, and convents. In the Venhuini Chapel of the churches of the Dominicans, is an ancient picture of wood, representing the Virgin with the infant Jesus, by Guido Janese, dated 1221. The manufactures carried on here are very trifling. They consist of woollen goods, hats, leather, and paper. There is a little trade in corn; and the marble quarries in the vicinity might be rendered valuable by enter prising capitalists. One of the principal objects of interest to strangers is the Piazza, a large extent of ground laid out in walks, and decorated with statues. It is the place of public resort in the evening. The esplanade is an avenue leading to the citadel, the ramparts of which are planted with trees, and laid out in the form of terraces.
Sienna is mentioned by Pliny under the name of Colonia Senensis. During the middle ages, it enjoyed great prosperity, and was more populous than at pre sent. The territory was once a free republic, but was conquered by Charles V. The Siennese, a terri tory of Sienna, is now a province of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. It is about 62 miles long, and contains 34,000 square miles, and 190,000 inhabitants. The population of the town is about 24,000. East long. 10' 15', north lat. 4:3' 22'.