Description
The University of Siena is one of the oldest universities in Italy, with its main seat in the former monastery of San Vigilio on Banchi di Sotto, a stone's throw from Piazza del Campo: behind the façade lies a cloister that breathes eight hundred years of student life.
It all begins in 1240, with a tax: anyone who rented rooms to students had to pay the Commune, which used the money to pay the professors of the Studio. At the time there were schools of grammar, law and medicine; theology and other subjects were added later.
The San Vigilio building has a core from the 11th-12th century, rebuilt in the 16th and restored in 1891 by Giuseppe Partini. It is the part that matters to visitors: a severe building in the very center of the old town, where the university is still at work.
Inside is the arcaded courtyard, the heart of the palace. At its center stands the bronze group by Raffaello Romanelli commemorating the students who fell in the battle of Curtatone on May 29, 1848, who had gone off as volunteers with their professors.
Along the courtyard you will also find the tomb of Guglielmo di Ciliano and Niccolò Aringhieri, created in the 19th century by joining two monuments from the church of San Domenico: one is by Goro di Gregorio, around 1325. There is also a memorial to Giulio Bianchi Bandinelli, mayor of Siena in Napoleonic times, sculpted by Pietro Tenerani.
Elsewhere in the city, too, the university has left its mark. In 1408 the Casa della Sapienza was founded, a college for students from out of town: the first residents arrived in 1416 and paid fifty florins. It drew scholars from all over Europe.
There are plenty of stories about this university. In 1321 Siena welcomed professors and students fleeing Bologna after a furious quarrel with the podestà. Among its students was Enea Silvio Piccolomini, the future Pope Pius II.
In 1808, with the French invasion, the Studio was closed and only reopened with the Restoration. And in 1892 a minister proposed closing the university: the city answered with a general strike and a popular uprising, and the minister had to withdraw his proposal.
Today the university has many departments scattered around the city and a system of museums, with collections of physics, anatomy and botany and an astronomical observatory. Anyone passing along Banchi di Sotto will find in the San Vigilio palace its oldest face.
Don't miss
• The arcaded courtyard.
• The Curtatone war memorial.
• The tomb of Guglielmo di Ciliano.
Did you know?
• In 1246 Emperor Frederick II had a school of law set up in Siena to hurt the University of Bologna.
• In 1990 the university celebrated 750 years of activity.
It all begins in 1240, with a tax: anyone who rented rooms to students had to pay the Commune, which used the money to pay the professors of the Studio. At the time there were schools of grammar, law and medicine; theology and other subjects were added later.
The San Vigilio building has a core from the 11th-12th century, rebuilt in the 16th and restored in 1891 by Giuseppe Partini. It is the part that matters to visitors: a severe building in the very center of the old town, where the university is still at work.
Inside is the arcaded courtyard, the heart of the palace. At its center stands the bronze group by Raffaello Romanelli commemorating the students who fell in the battle of Curtatone on May 29, 1848, who had gone off as volunteers with their professors.
Along the courtyard you will also find the tomb of Guglielmo di Ciliano and Niccolò Aringhieri, created in the 19th century by joining two monuments from the church of San Domenico: one is by Goro di Gregorio, around 1325. There is also a memorial to Giulio Bianchi Bandinelli, mayor of Siena in Napoleonic times, sculpted by Pietro Tenerani.
Elsewhere in the city, too, the university has left its mark. In 1408 the Casa della Sapienza was founded, a college for students from out of town: the first residents arrived in 1416 and paid fifty florins. It drew scholars from all over Europe.
There are plenty of stories about this university. In 1321 Siena welcomed professors and students fleeing Bologna after a furious quarrel with the podestà. Among its students was Enea Silvio Piccolomini, the future Pope Pius II.
In 1808, with the French invasion, the Studio was closed and only reopened with the Restoration. And in 1892 a minister proposed closing the university: the city answered with a general strike and a popular uprising, and the minister had to withdraw his proposal.
Today the university has many departments scattered around the city and a system of museums, with collections of physics, anatomy and botany and an astronomical observatory. Anyone passing along Banchi di Sotto will find in the San Vigilio palace its oldest face.
Don't miss
• The arcaded courtyard.
• The Curtatone war memorial.
• The tomb of Guglielmo di Ciliano.
Did you know?
• In 1246 Emperor Frederick II had a school of law set up in Siena to hurt the University of Bologna.
• In 1990 the university celebrated 750 years of activity.