Academic Year Abroad Siena at the Università degli Studi & the Università per Stranieri

Arriving in Siena, you will see the Torre del Mangia and the Duomo from the perspective of San Domenico.

Up close, the Piazza del Campo is one of the most beautiful public squares in the world, a scallop shell in shape, overshadowed by the Torre and the Palazzo, surrounded by cafes and restaurants, the arc of the enclosure divided by steep stone alleyways. Flip a coin into the Fontana Gaia.

Just behind the Campo, there are medieval buildings like the restored Palazzo Salimbene (below left), and buildings from the Rinascimento like the Teatro dei Rozzi (below right), where the Accademia dei Rozzi (the Academy of Boors) met.

Before long, you will find yourself at the Università degli Studi, perhaps at the Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, in the beautiful cloister of the Facoltà di Economia, or in one of the other facoltà distributed among the neighborhoods of Siena.

You can do your reading and research at one of the University's libraries and work...

... if you can avoid luxuriating in your surroundings, in the garden of Lettere e Filosofia...

... or, if you are taking intensive Italian at the Università per Stranieri, in its garden.

Much of your time will be spent in classrooms such as these at Lettere e Filosofia.

One pleasant and inexpensive university mensa is that at Sallustio Bandini.

From time to time, you will have the chance to see the rest of Toscana, for example, the charming town of Pienza, built by the famous Sienese Humanist and Pope, Aeneas Sylvius (Pius II). From the Palazzo Piccolomini, the Pope's home when he was in Pienza, there are breathtaking views of the countryside.

In Siena itself, there is a cheerful and active nightlife. You will have a memorable educational experience, and you will love the people, food, and wine of Siena.