The She-Wolf of Siena

On this square, two monuments immediately catch the eye. First is the column crowned with the She-Wolf, an inseparable symbol of Siena. It recalls the Roman legend of Romulus and Remus, but here the story takes on a local twist. Tradition has it that Remus’s sons, Senius and Aschius, fled Rome after their father’s death. One rode a white horse, the other a black one, and they brought the She-Wolf with them to this place. Here they founded a new city, named Siena after Senius, while the black and white horses became the origin of the city’s colors, which still represent Siena today. That’s why in Siena the She-Wolf isn’t just a copy of the Capitoline wolf, but the reminder of a founding legend. Keep an eye out, you’ll spot a few more of them as you walk through the city. The other monument here is more discreet but just as significant: the church of San Cristoforo. In the Middle Ages, long before the Palazzo Pubblico was built, this is where the Council of the Campana met, the political body that governed the city at the time. In other words, this modest church was Siena’s first seat of communal power. It also witnessed moments of great spiritual importance. In 1376, Saint Catherine of Siena is said to have entered into ecstasy here and reconciled two feuding families, an episode that shows her role as a peacemaker within her city. With its neoclassical façade added in the 19th century and traces of its Romanesque cloister still visible, San Cristoforo today is a blend of austerity and history, a small church, but one that carries the memory of Siena’s earliest public life.