{"product_id":"siena-by-jane-stevenson-9781801101141","title":"Siena","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn authoritative, richly illustrated history, and affectionate celebration, of \u003cem\u003eSiena\u003c\/em\u003e, one of the best-loved and most-visited cities in Italy.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOccupying a hilltop site in the midst of a vast, undulating landscape – between the wine-producing region of Chianti to the north and the truffle-filled woods of the Crete Senesi to the south – Siena is as much a magnet for contemporary tourism as Florence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, its proud republican past presents an intriguing contrast with its Medici-dominated northern Tuscan rival, with which it tussled for local supremacy for much of the High Middle Ages. From the twelfth century, profiting from its advantageous position on a major pilgrim route, the Republic of Siena developed into a major European power and remained an important commercial, financial and artistic centre for four centuries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJane Stevenson tells the story of how the city rose to its astonishingly productive cultural heyday in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries before suffering a catastrophic late medieval decline in the aftermath of the Black Death. But she also reveals how it transcended this early loss of power to enjoy a prosperous civic afterlife and cherished position as a uniquely well-preserved medieval city, crammed with world-class art and architecture, furnished with appealing and intriguing traditions, and set in a heavenly landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46849960870124,"sku":"9781801101141","price":90.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/7111503482829.jpg?v=1759067833","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/siena-by-jane-stevenson-9781801101141","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}