Torre del Mangia — Attraction in Siena

We purchased our tickets from the main office below the tower. You will need to make sure the attendants are aware of what type of tickets you would like. We missed the opportunity to benefit from a discount by not giving enough information regarding the attractions we wanted to visit. The entrance door to the start of the tower steps, is directly to the left as you walk into the main building. You would of been given a time slot and you will have to wait for your time slot before starting the climb. You will find a Stop and Go light at the entrance door, you should wait until the light turns green to start the climb inside the tower, on our decent we had people coming up before the light had turned green. You will find that after a few flights of stairs you will come across a room where you will show your ticket and you will be asked to put all bags in the lockers, the lockers are all against the wall, you retained the key that locks the door. You will also find a WC just incase you need to go. The climb isn’t that bad, just take your time, you will find that at some stages the doors frames are a little low and the width is a bit tight. Once at the top you have a 360 degree view of Siena, well...

Torre del Mangio When you think of Piazza del Campo, you will automatically see a huge bell tower in your mind's eye. This is the 102 meters (88 meters if you don't include the Palazzo itself) high bell tower: Torre del Mangia.

The tower is a true landmark of the city.

Built in the fourteenth century by the Rinaldo brothers, it stands next to the Palazzo Pubblico. The striking thing about the tower is that the lower part is in Gothic style and the top is not. At the foot of the Torre you will find a chapel, which was added after the plague epidemic in 1352.

You can also climb the Torre for a small fee for a beautiful view over the city.

Palazzo Pubblico (Museo Civico)

Also on the Piazza del Campo you will find the Palazzo Pubblico, the town hall, which was built between 1297 and 1310.

Previously, the Palazzo was the seat of the Signoria and the Podestà; now it is one of the most elegant palaces of that time. The Palazzo has a recognizable appearance with light natural stone and orange bricks. In the town hall there is a museum, the Museo Civico, where you can view paintings...

Disorganised and disrespectful municipality. They don't alert you to the fact that even very small bags aren't allowed up to the tower when you buy tickets. Any reasonable organization, if they don't bother to have a look at what you are carrying when you buy the tickets, would at least have a big poster with the maximum size of bag dimensions clearly specified, perhaps with a big red cross across a bag - what do they do - write something in small print in many languages stopping you about 50 steps up to try to force you to put your bags into the locker there! Trying to complain and get your money back is pointless - all the staff there with very poor English deny there is a manager on the premises, so I guess what would happen in an emergency is worrying ... even finding the joint ticket office for the tower and museum is not straightforward because the signage is so poor. I would avoid it entirely as it also expensive for what it is - I feel the Opera Duomo combination tickets with the new cathedral facade panorama is much better...