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A 30 June 2005 photo shows the roofs of the middle age buildings of downtown Siena - with the facade of Sansedoni Palace in Piazza del Campo and the Mangia Tower - taken from the 'altana' of renaissance Piccolomini Palace, known as Papesse Palace, which is the Center for Contemporary Art. Siena is the best place to live in Italy, according to the annual study made by the economic daily Il Sole 24 Ore, released on Monday 18 December 2006. The study compared Italy's 103 provinces according to 36 parameters and revealed a net separation between north and south: there were no southern cities in the top ten while all of the ones in the bottom ten were in the south, with Catania coming in last. Tuscany placed three cities in the top ten which aside from Siena, which last won nine years ago, included Florence and Grosseto. Among the parameters used were quality of life, business and employment, health and environment services, law and order, free time. EPA/ALIGHIERO PALAZZO