Just some panoramic rooftop shots to reacquaint you with the burnt siena colour for those of you who've grown out of crayolas. The strict government that gave the world this colour and enforced the relative peacefulness of Siena had its proudest moment in 1260. Florence had assembled a huge army to conquer Siena, but Siena's badly outnumbered militia completely wiped out the invading army. It's regional dominance lasted for another hundred years, until it lost a third of its citizens from plague, and never recovered. This loss crippled the Council, and brought on the usual civil war to add to the plague deaths. Nonetheless, Siena maintained its independence until 1552, when a combined Spanish and Florentine army starved them into submission.