Swordsman of Siena (; French: Le Mercenaire) is a 1962 French-Italian adventure film directed by Étienne Périer and Baccio Bandini and starring Stewart Granger, Sylva Koscina and Christine Kaufmann. The film is set in Spanish-controlled Italy during the sixteenth century. Plot summary Thomas Stanswood, a veteran English mercenary serving the nobles of Renaissance Italy, accepts employment in the city-state of Siena. This former republic has been occupied by the Spanish Empire, and Don Carlos, the cold-blooded Imperial governor, seeks to legitimize his power by marrying into the locally prestigious Arconti family. Stanswood must protect the bride-to-be, Lady Orietta Arconti, whose friendly relations with the Spanish have put her in danger of assassination by a mysterious resistance group known as "the Ten". Orietta vehemently does not want a bodyguard, and she and Stanswood seek to annoy each other wherever possible. Her virtuous and patriotic younger sister Serenella feels differently, becoming smitten with Stanswood despite the difference in their ages and political affiliations. On his first night of guard duty Stanswood catches an assassin, sent by the Ten, in the hall outside Orietta's bedroom. After a scuffle, the assassin flees with a wounded hand. Attending Don Carlos’ court the next morning, the mercenary sees that Andrea Paresi, a Sienese nobleman, bears an identical wound on his hand. Stanswood begins following Paresi and discovers both that he is the leader of the Ten and that he is preparing to enter Siena's annual horse race. Ever since the Spanish invasion this event has been won by Hugo, captain of the Imperial guards; victory by an Italian would cause a surge of local pride that the Ten could exploit to overthrow Don Carlos’ government. Stanswood confronts Paresi and the two men fight a duel, which Stanswood wins. Secretly the mercenary is more in sympathy with the rebels than with his Spanish employers. He lets Paresi go unharmed and does not report the plot to Don Carlos. This act of clemency does not save the rebel leader, who is betrayed by a confederate and arrested by Hugo's men. In conversation with Stanswood, Serenella learns that his native town in England is also oppressed by a tyrannical government, and that he plans someday to liberate it with the help of the money he has made in Italy. This unexpected commonality increases her fondness for him, and she begins pressing him to take her along when he goes