Note 53 — SIENA

Siena, of all Italian cities, was most subject to revolutions. Comines describes it as a city which 'se gouverne plus follement que ville d'Italie.' Varchi calls it 'un guazzabuglio ed una confusione di repubbliche piuttosto che bene ordinata e instituta repubblica.' See my 'Age of the Despots' (Renaissance in Italy, Part I.), pp. 141, 554, for some account of the Sienese constitution, and of the feuds and reconciliations of the burghers.