One of the central features of Siena is the Torre del Mangia, which sits in the main square, the Piazza Del Campo. That square is home to Siena's most famous attraction, the bi-annual Palio di Siena horse race.

The tower sits adjacent to the town hall and is reputed to be one of the tallest secular towers in Italy. The story goes that it was created to be exactly the same height as the tower of the church to reflect the fact that in Siena at that time (the mid-1300s) the state was equal to the church.

I will admit that the name confused me a little since "mangia" actually means "he or she eats". If one can believe Wikipedia the name stemmed from the first bellringer who was something of a glutton. Who knows, maybe it's true. But it does sound like one of those urban legends that gets passed down through the centuries. Mind you, I have no better idea of how the thing got its name.

The shops around the Campo were taken after we'd had lunch, so as you can see here the sun was high in the sky.

In retrospect, I do regret that I didn't climb up to the top of the tower; the view from up there is extremely impressive. On the off chance that I ever get back to Siena (unlikely, given all the other places that I want to visit and my thoughts on Siena generally which were included in the previous commentary), I won't be making that mistake again.