San Gimignano rises on a hill dominating the river Elsa
valley, along the
Francigena
road.
Seat of a small Etruscan village of the Hellenistic period, its
history started around the 10th century taking the name of San
Gimignano, Bishop of Modena.
Very reach town during the 13th century thanks the commerce of
fabrics, etc. its most important inhabitants built 72 towers
inside the walls as symbols of reachness and proud.
Internal power struggles divided San Gimignano in two faction and
the 1348 terrible plague and consequential depopulation resulted
in a serious crisis leading to the submission to Florence in
1353.
Most important monuments:
- nowadays 14 towers, including Torre Grossa (Big Tower) with its
54 meters, Salvucci' s Twin Towers;
- Palazzo del Podestà, 13th century (People Hall) today
Town Hall and Municipal Picture Gallery;
- The Collegiata (Duomo), romanesque church with frescoes painted
by Benozzo Gozzoli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Bartolo di Fredi;
- Church of Saint Augustin, romanesque/gothic style with frescoes
by Benozzo Gozzoli, Lippo Memmi, Bartolo di Fredi;
- Rocca di Montestaffoli: the fortress dating from 1353.
There are some local turistic guides too: they will be very
happy to show you how nice this town is.
Their names are:
-
Laura Venturi: tel.- fax 0577-940041 - she speak
english, german, french;
-
Viviana Girola: tel. 0577-953167 - fax 0577-953007, she
speaks french and english;
-
Chiara Biccellari: tel.- fax 0577-43819: she speaks
english, french, spanish.
