La Torre del Mangia - tower with a view

The slender Torre del Mangia is named after the first bell-ringer, Mangiaguadagni, `the spendthrift.’ Posterity confirms that he spent well on this lovely 87-metre-high tower, with its 500-step climb to the top. The reward for visitors is sultry views over a pink piazza and Siena’s rooftops, even if the views from the Cathedral rooftops are even better. At the bottom of the tower, the Cappella in Piazza (Chapel in the Square) was erected in 1378 in thanksgiving for the end of the plague. In 2017, after a Palio win, excitable citizens accidentally set the tower on fire with blazing torches but the tower survived. There’s no pre-booking so you need to just turn up (or used a combined ticket).