Getting married in Siena

The Comune di Siena states that "le tradizionali corse del Palio si effettuano nel 'Campo' il 2 luglio ed il 16 agosto di ogni anno".

The Palio is not a tourist attraction that happens alongside ordinary life. It is the city's own event, and around each race the days are given over to trials, processions and the preparation and restoration of the Piazza del Campo — the comune issues ordinances for the piazza's restoration afterwards. Accommodation is taken, the centre is impassable, and the attention of everyone who lives there is elsewhere.

If you are marrying in or near Siena, keep well clear of both dates and the days surrounding them. This is the single most useful thing to know about the city's calendar, and it is the kind of thing a couple planning from abroad discovers late.

The comune celebrates civil marriages in three settings, and publishes their capacities: the Sala del Concistoro (50 people), the Loggia dei Nove (80) and the Sala di Palazzo Patrizi (50).

That is a real constraint, and it shapes what kind of wedding Siena suits. Eighty is the ceiling in the largest room, and fifty in two of the three — so a large guest list either marries elsewhere and celebrates here, or celebrates at a property outside the city.

For a small wedding it is close to ideal: these are extraordinary rooms, and at fifty guests you are not squeezed into them.

Siena is one of three Tuscan comuni we checked whose ceremony tariffs are not on its website — Montepulciano and, until recently, others do the same. The comune confirms only that "i pagamenti relativi alle tariffe previste devono essere effettuati almeno 15 gg. prima della data fissata" — payment at least 15 days before the ceremony.

So email the stato civile office early, at matrimoni@comune.siena.it, and ask for the current tariff along with the available dates. Both arrive in the same reply, and neither can be planned around until they do.

By way of comparison, comuni that do publish charge non-residents anywhere from €100 to €5,100 depending on the town and setting — see our cost guide.

Siena has no airport of its own. Florence is the usual arrival point and Pisa the cheaper alternative; from either, the last leg is a drive of some length.

The city itself is compact and walkable, and steeply so — Siena is built across ridges, and the walk that looks short on a map is uphill. Worth mentioning to guests who will be in heels or who do not walk easily.

As with Florence, the historic centre has restricted vehicle access. Confirm with your hotel or venue how cars actually reach it before a guest hires one.

The most common shape for a Siena wedding is not a wedding inside the walls at all. It is a wedding at a property in the countryside nearby, with Siena as the place guests stay, eat and spend the days either side.

That works because the city sits between two of Tuscany's best wedding regions. Chianti is immediately north — and its comuni, unlike Siena, publish their fees and in Greve's case authorise private villas for the legal ceremony. Val d'Orcia is to the south.

The combination that tends to work: a small legal ceremony in one of the comune's rooms, then the celebration at an estate outside the city.

The comune's own rooms, as above — small, historic, and the grandest thing in the city available to a wedding.

Historic palazzi and cloisters within the walls, generally for dinners rather than large parties, with firm limits on hours and noise.

Estates and villas in the hills immediately around, which is where most Siena weddings actually take place — close enough for guests to stay in the city.

Wine estates to the north and south, in the Chianti and Montalcino directions.

Our venues guide covers what to ask each of them.