History of Siena

The Etruscan founded Siena; then it became a Roman colony with the name of Sena Julia. In the Middle Ages, it played an important role, at first under the Lombards and then under the Carolingians. The bishops ruled the town from the 9^th to the 11^th century. Siena reached its highest splendour when it became a self-governing commune (1147) with an expansionist policy. However, in 1555 Florence defeated and conquered Siena, which lost its autonomy and became part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy (1861).