Editor Pick
San Gimignano - The Medieval Manhattan
San Gimignano is the quintessential Tuscan hill town. It is also well on the tourist trail – but for very good reasons! In fact I would say there are four very good reasons for taking a day trip out to San Gimignano if you should find yourself in Tuscany.
1) Its state of preservation. Sad to say, but poverty protects. San Gimignano had a flourishing of great wealth in the 13th and 14th century due to its position on the Via Francigena trade route north from Rome through Tuscany. Added to this it had two notable exports of its own – the spice saffron, so important to the town that the medieval council used it to pay off their debts, and the local white vernaccia wine beloved of popes, potentates and painters (one pope complained that the townsfolk spent too much time on art and culture when they really should be concentrating on producing vernaccia; the Medici of Florence were so keen on the wine that they demanded a liquid tribute from the town for all important functions; Michelangelo wrote impassionedly about the quality of his favourite tipple). This wealth was spent on the art and culture the papacy so resented. San Gimignano was also fiercely courted in the medieval struggles between Florence and Siena, papacy and aristocracy, and Guelphs and Ghibellines (Dante Alligheri arrived on a diplomatic mission in 1300 hoping to win the townsfolk across to the Guelph faction). However, when the Black Death ravaged Europe in the mid-14th century it hit the town particularly hard. Short of menfolk, its economy in ruins, it was annexed by the Florentine state (who built the Rocca), but thereafter languished as a rural backwater. With no inward investment the medieval walls, houses and towers were reused by generation after generation rather than being flattened and built over with more modern construction.
2) Its local history. Great wealth brought several powerful families to the fore. Intense rivalry between them developed. This rivalry manifested itself in the proliferation of fortified towers that sprouted up in this tiny city. Why were these towers constructed? Presumably they were partially defensive, but frankly the whole thing was a semi-comic Freudian attempt to prove ones wealth and status by owning the tallest tower – a "My tower’s bigger than your tower" mentality. Finally the civic authorities realised that this whole thing was getting out of hand, and decreed that no tower could be taller than that attached to the town hall, the so-called Torre Grossa, which topped off at 54m when completed in 1311. At one point there were around 75 towers sticking up out of this small village (where did they put them all?), though now we are down to nearer a dozen. Generally they tend towards being plain, windowless and unadorned – more World Trade Centre than Chrysler Building (notably New York also saw a spate of builders attempting to out-do each other with the height of their sky-scrapers in the early 20th century).. Still, these unmistakable and quite remarkable towers provide San Gimignano’s USP, and provide a reason to make a trip here rather than another hill town.
3) Its UNESCO World Heritage Site status. For good or ill, UNESCO has designated the town a World Heritage Site. This means that if, like me, you have a studious competitiveness in trying to visit (‘tick off’) as many of these sites as possible, then it is inevitable that you will endeavour to arrange a trip out to San Gimignano (and Pienza south of Siena, which is also a World Heritage Site) rather than other no doubt equally picturesque hill towns if you fancy a journey away from the cities.
4) Its ease of access. San Gimignano is on the tourist trail, and organised tours visit frequently. But it is also easy to visit independently by public transport. It is almost equidistant from both Florence and Siena, and is well within day-trip distance. I visited from the (slightly nearer) Siena. Every guidebook I have read states that from either town you will need to catch a bus or train to the town of Poggibonsi then change to one of the frequent local buses there (the central bus stop is right outside the train station). This is nonsense. I hardly went in peak season (March), and yet I found there were buses running hourly from Siena’s Piazza Gramsci bus station direct to San Gimignano. A return ticket was €10.40, and each way takes around 70 minutes. You are deposited right outside the main Porta San Giovanni; for the return head across to the bus stop over on the right hand side on the piazzale once you emerge from the Porta.
From journal Gimi, Gimi, Gimi - The Medieval Manhattan