I have spent the last two years living and studying in Siena. While this was a valuable experience with many personal highlights, I cannot in good faith recommend the experience to others.
Before I start, let me say that I by no-means think the university of Siena (nor the city itself) is terrible. In fact, for many people, in many places, Siena might be a massive improvement over what is otherwise available. My perspective is one where Siena is compared against the other European universities I have studied at. I believe this comparison to be fair, since it is more-or-less equally easy to get a position at any European university as it was at the university of Siena.
Before I start with the ultimate reasons as to why I will NOT recommend Siena, let me give a couple of good points. Firstly, both the Linguistics and Engineering departments have some real heavy-hitter staff. Professor Maci is a real big-name in the field of Electronic engineering and Rizzi and Belletti are some of the largest names in generative linguistics. Securing guidance from these professors (as well as reference letters) can be a huge boon to one’s academic career.
I am however always hesitant to pursue a position solely for a couple of good professors. Firstly, there is the fact that prolific and influential writers are not always good teachers, nor are they always available to support your pursuits, especially if your views do not align. In the case of Siena in particular, I would also warn that all the professors mentioned above are close to (or past) retirement.
A secondary benefit (though one with a massive caveat that I will get to) is the scholarships offered by Tuscany. It is possible to study at the university of Siena for free while being provided housing and two meals a day, both as a native Italian and as a foreigner. This is a better deal than I have seen in the other countries I have studied in. The closest second is Norway, where you can get a fairly generous stipend as a foreigner if you also work part time.
The caveat here is that getting the scholarship is a rather involved and opaque process, a theme that will repeat throughout this post. Firstly, whether you have the right to a scholarship depends on the income-level of your parents. This makes sense in Italian culture, where most people are provided for by their parents well into adulthood, but always seemed rather odd to me. Even more odd is that, if you do not translate and submit your tax records as a foreigner, they base their decisions on the income level of your "home" country. Never mind the fact that you currently live in Italy and thus make an Italian wage (at best, more on this later).
As such, I was not eligible for any form of scholarship and ended up paying the maximum rate. This was more than I payed in any other country I have studied in, though it is still fairly low for global standards. I could have submitted my personal taxes and declared that I did not get financial support from my parents, though this would require getting a lot of documents professionally translated for a CHANCE to get a fee-reduction. Thus paying a lot of money to possibly save some.
On top of this come the hidden fees. Notable are the enrollment fee and stamp tax, graduation fee and stamp tax, diploma fee and stamp tax as well as the tuition payments for delays in studies. Besides, while you pay a premium for getting any sort of administrative work done, the processes are nevertheless absolutely glacial (seriously, your diploma will be available approximately 10 months after graduation).
Add to that the fact that the free food you get is rather spartan and not very nutritious and that the dormitories might be full, and the deal sours even more. A classmate of mine had to return to his home country while waiting for a spot to open up. He eventually got his room in January, 4 months after the academic year started.
Now, this might still seem like a pretty good deal provided that the quality of education is good. This is however the second main downside of the university of Siena. The teaching standards are fine, but attainment standards are laughably low. Showing up to class and repeating by-rote what was covered is enough to get a maximum grade with honours. Indeed, most classes provide you with the option to now attend classes at all and read a book instead. Very few classes ask you to engage with the subject matter in a novel way or to apply it to cases not covered in class. There is no homework nor reading assignments and, most damningly, you do not need to write a single word until your dissertation. For a masters-level degree, a degree which should prepare you to be an independent researcher who applies their knowledge in new ways and writes papers about them, this is simply insufficient.
I still think that these downsides can be ignored if the location is great. Sure you might get a largely worthless degree, but walk away with great life experiences or savings from part-time jobs. Siena is no great however, in fact it is rather the opposite.
Siena is a very touristic city, meaning it is always busy and full, the buildings are old, poorly insulated, and crumbing. All the shops are little touristic boutiques, meaning everting is expensive and you will need to travel to neighbouring cities for anything bigger than daily necessities. The city is surprisingly difficult to cross as well. Since the streets are small, most traffic (including pubic transportation) needs to go around, meaning that it takes about as long to cross Siena (a city of ~50 000 inhabitants) as it takes to cross Oslo (a city of 1.1 million).
Speaking of transportation, while the trains and buses are fine, you will feel very contained if you do not have a car and a licence to drive it. Many places are simply not reachable by public transport, and the others will take much longer compared to using a car.
And lastly there is work. Given that the university doesn’t expect much, you will have plenty of time to work a part-time (or even full-time job), the only problem is that there is no work that pays well enough. Once again, I am comparing to other European student cities here. In Oslo, you can work part time and save money while studying. In Leiden you can work and break-even. In Siena, you will work and lose money. If you have a full scholarship you can save up some, which might let you move to one of these higher-wage places, but not moving to Siena in the first place is a better bet if you have the option.
Reading back over what I have written so far, I cannot help but feel a little sad. Like much of the Italian diaspora, I really do like Italy, and Siena is included in that. But everything and everyone makes it so difficult to like the country, hence why so many young Italians are leaving as soon as they are able. And while I stubbornly hope that things will get better, I sincerely doubt that they will. During my time there, the university of Siena underwent a number of budget cuts resulting in the closing of a study hall, the unsubscription from academic journals, and the partial closing of the library.
I see no reason to believe that this trend will reverse, especially as politicians continue to blame young Italians for pursuing opportunities elsewhere rather than staying forever in a dead-end country with crumbling infrastructure where politics is ruled by by the rich, old, and aging.
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