The present volume publishes the proceedings of the International Study Day ‘A tale of two cities’: Rome and Siena in the Early Modern period (1550-1750), hosted at The British School at Rome on October 12, 2017. Borrowing its title from Charles Dickens’ historical novel of 1859, this ‘tale’ sets out to explore the intricate relationship between Rome and Siena in the Late Renaissance and Baroque periods. Chronologically and thematically broad in its scope, research presented in this book unveils and discusses chief episodes in the cultural, artistic, religious and political exchanges between these two cities, spanning the decades from 1555 (the year of Cosimo I Medici’s conquest of Siena) to the papacy of the Alexander VII, born Fabio Chigi (1655- 1667), and beyond. Reassessing the state of research and delineating the future perspectives in the investigation of Rome and Siena in the Early Modern period are the objectives of Giulia Martina Weston’s essay. A similar goal is pursued by Marco Ciampolini’s contribution, which presents a critical overview of the new acquisitions brought in and favoured by his fundamental Pittori Senesi del Seicento. Unexplored and meaningful episodes in the history of patronage and collecting are discussed in Simona Sperindei’s enquiry into the fruitful relationship between Monsignor Flaminio del Taja and the Sienese painter Domenico Manetti (1609-1663), and in Dario Beccarini’s exploration of the collecting activity of the Sergardi family…