If you go to Siena, beware the impulse to remain forever in this city of fine food, wine and music.

 

If Tuscany is the colour wheel of Italy, then Siena is its pivotal point. Twenty minutes to its north, the wooded vales of Chianti open up to combed vineyards, watercolour hills and sensuous lines of cypress. On Siena’s south-western flank, the rolling grey-clay moonscape of Crete Senesi transforms into a summer sea of sunflowers.

Inscribed in the arch of one of its city gates are the words: “Cor Magis Tibi Siena Pandit” meaning, “Siena opens its heart to you wider than this gate”. No matter how little or how long you stay in Siena, it seeps into your soul, it becomes your home. It is a celebration of music, form, sound and colour. It is a city of discovery.

Siena began as an Etruscan city and...