Everyone will tell you San Gimignano in Italy is famous for its towers. They're not lying.
THE TOWN
San Gimignano is a medieval town between Florence and Siena and is perched on a 324m high hill. This gives it a magnificent view of the surroundings. It's a living town, ie there are still locals living here. Plus of course there are many accommodation for tourists should you want to experience a bit of the medieval Tuscany lifestyle.
I came here in November 2011 (yes digging deep into my photo archives). November isn't typically the peak season, and I had a great time walking around with not too many other tourists. Nothing worse than sharing a historic town with thousands of other visitors! However, there are downsides to this, and I'll tell you in a minute.
Piazza della Cisterna is the main square at San Gimignano. You can see I managed to take a photo without anyone else in it, that's how pleasant my visit was. The Piazza is named after the cistern, that's the sturcture on the right. This was built in 1287, and the octagonal travertine pedastal was addded 60 years later.
This rather boring looking building on the left is the collegiate church, the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta. It dates back to the 10th century, and I subsequently found out that it's frescoes are described as works of outstanding beauty by UNESCO. I wished I knoew at the time, and I would have definitely gone inside to view, even though I wouldn't be able to appreciate their beauty. Oh well! At least I had meal here ... see below
THE TOWERS
In it's heydays at around the 12th century, there were 72 towers in San Gimignano. These were all built by wealthy families to show off symbolise their power and wealth. So of course, you build your tower as tall as possible, and preferably taller than your feuding neighbour. The tallest tower back then was 70 meters. To put things in perspective, the Pisa Tower is 56 meters tall, the Statue of Liberty in New York is nearly 93 meters, but don't forget, the Statue of Liberty was built in the late 19th century, some 700 years after these towers. In the end, they authorities put a stop to all this rivalry, and said no towers were allowed to be taller than Palazzo Comunale, below.
Today, only 14 of these towers remain and they area has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. I would have loved to see all 72 towers, I imagine it would be so impressive, especially since tall buildings weren't as common as they are nowadays.
LOCAL DELICACIES
There are a few things I love about Italy, Food is definitely one of them, specifically gelato and prosciutto. I was told there is an award winning gelateria in San Gimignano, that was definitely on my to go list. Travelling in off peak season is great, you don't have the crowds, but the downside is that some places may be closed. This award winning gelateria was one of them. What a bummer!!!! Just look at all the media interviews on their front door. Luckily some of the other gelaterias were still open, and I ended up having not one, but two gelato. I can't comment on how they compared with the award winning one, but by my standards, they were good!! Or, I wonder, is it because food always taste so much better when you're travelling?
One thing, I knew for sure, the prosciutto was definitely really good and a lot cheaper than in UK. They're so affordable, that I bought quite a bit and pigged out by the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta. I didn't get to go inside to admire the frescoes, but I can say I had a meal on its doorstep.
THE SURROUNDING VIEWS
Being on a hill, San Gimignano offers fantastic views all around. I think you can climb up one of the towers to see for yourself. I didn't do that, can't remember why, maybe I got a bit tired of climbing so many towers during my trip already. It was very relaxing just wandering around the medival town, along the ancient city walls, watching people picking olives, something that we don't have in the UK.
I'm going to leave you with a few more photos of this historical town. Perhaps you feel you've travelled here as well now.
