Last weekend some friends and I decided to take a day trip to Siena, a city close to Florence known for its beautiful views and rich history. We started off the day with a 1.5-2 hour train ride for around €12. This train took us straight from Florence’s central train station (Firenze Santa Maria Novella) to Siena’s train station. From here we went up many, many escalators at the city of Siena is located on a hilltop.
The biggest piece of advice I have in regards to exploring Siena is to get there early! The city is pretty small and most of the main attractions can come with very long lines or even sold out tickets if you wait to long. My friends and I decided to purchase the OPA SI Pass for approximately €20. This pass allowed us entry into the Crypt, the Baptistery, Piccolomini Library, the Museo dell'Opera, the Oratory, and the Facciatone Viewpoint. The pass also allowed us to skip many of the lines that we ran into so I would definitely purchase it again! The only confusion that came with the OPA SI Pass was that you have to exchange the virtual ticket for a paper one at the ticketing office. We were able to skip the line in order to do this, but it isn’t very obvious that you can skip the line so we did end up waiting around for a few minutes before a member of the staff was around to answer our questions.
We first visited the Facciatone Viewpoint which offered amazing panoramic views of the city and the surrounding landscape. The Museo dell'Opera is located in the first few floors of this building so we walked through the museum first and then waited in line for about 15 minutes before we were able to go out onto the Facciatone Viewpoint. Groups were given about 10 minutes outside to enjoy the view and soak up the sun before we were directed back inside.
From here we decided to visit the Duomo di Siena and the crypt, library, and baptistery. After our visits to these historical areas we chose to simply walk around the city and visit some shops. We also walked through Fortezza Medicea, which is Siena’s fortress and ended up stumbling on a CrossFit competition which was a fun detour. Before getting back on the train to head home we stopped for an amazing pistachio croissant and cappuccino at Nannini.
I loved my experience in Siena and would recommend it to any of those who are in love with views of the Tuscan hillsides!
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