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Violence and beauty combine in Siena

15 October 2022

9:00 AM

15 October 2022

9:00 AM

Siena: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval City Jane Stevenson

Head of Zeus, pp.448, 40

Siena, the jewel of Tuscan cities, was the mercantile and banking centre of medieval Europe. Bankers in Pre-Renaissance Siena preened themselves on their wealth and material possession. Banking (from the Italian banco, ‘counter’) is an Italian invention. Yet Dante consigned money-lenders to the seventh circle of Hell, where they are made to stare for eternity at their sacks of lucre.

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