Today we are travelling to Tuscany, most of the drive through to San Gimignano is on the motorway. We passed through Carrera and saw the mighty carved out, scarred mountains of marble and the multiple yards holding hundreds of giant square slabs the size of a station wagon that line the highway. Makes you appreciate your benchtop if you are lucky enough to have one made out of this beautiful stone. Ten mins more down the motorway we scooted around Pisa and saw the top of the leaning tower leaning over the houses and buildings. That crazy old tower sure is on a lean….needs to be seen to be believed. Rosie and The Operator have been there, done that and got the fridge magnet.
Then, off the motorway and we are winding along beautiful Tuscan roads enjoying the view of well tended fields, rows of grapevines and olive trees all add to the texture of the landscape. Plus the standout typical Tuscan feature…rows of tall cypress trees standing straight and proud lining driveways, it truly is picturesque.
San Gimignano is a small, walled medieval hill town in Tuscany, it is famous for its skyline of towers and well preserved city centre. We rounded a corner and there it was laid out on the hill before us, totally breathtaking!
The town has been in existence since the 3rd century BC and was officially named San Gimignano in 450AD after the said saint intervened to spare the castle from destruction by the followers of Atilla the Hun.
But, before we started our tour of the town it was time for lunch, right outside the gates was a nice wine bar that made mean pasta and pizza, and had a view to die for. Now Rosie and The Operator were ready for their trek uphill.
San Gimignano is about 25 miles between both Siena and Florence, it was considered a good stop to rest for Pilgrims en route between these cities. You enter the town through the 13th century fortified walls through the Porta San Giovanni, gates like this helped regulate who came and went from the town.
The road winds up past shops selling the local Tuscan specialities, wild boar salami, saffron and the famous Tuscan wine.
The town is the colour of clay and so achingly perfect and beautiful….maybe a little too perfect. There is no traffic noise as cars are banned in the center during certain times of the day. The only noise you hear is the murmur of voices and the rough call of the swooping crows.
We are staying in the old town, in the Piazza del Cisterna overlooking the town well. we climbed up the steps of the well and the edge has been worn away from ancient ropes pulling up buckets of water over the century’s.
The square is amazing, surrounded by ancient buildings with ivy growing over them, restaurant umbrellas line the square and it is the perfect place to day dream. This is our hotel with the ivy on the front, below.
We stood in line at the information center to get a map outlining the sights to see and some historical information on them. An American couple was asking about the town hall next door and what appeared to be obvious empty spaces above the door where you would normally find the coats of arms for the town.
‘Yes’ said the lass, ‘that is where they should be, but they were stolen’. ‘Oh no,’ said the Americans, ‘we have vandals in our home town too, such a shame’. ‘They were stolen’ said the girl, totally deadpan, ‘…. by Napolean’. They didn’t get it…what a crack up.
The Piazza del Duomo is a large square that the duomo, the town hall and sturdy merchant buildings of the day face onto. It is also where the elderly residents of San Gimignano gather during the mid morning to read their newspapers together in little clusters and have a gossip.
The town hall holds beautiful works of art and even though not as richly decorated as some of the bigger cities we have been to, are still impressive on a more rustic scale.
This painting is from 1422 and shows Saint Gimignano holding the town full of bristling towers in his hand. The Operator climbed the tower again….the towns tallest tower at 200 feet tall for the stunning views over the town and countryside.
Now Rosie keeps saying, the higher your tower the wealthier you were, (A) cause you could afford to build it tall and (B) you would be safer under siege. If under attack the tower owners would set fire to the external wooden staircase, leaving the sole entrance unreachable one story up. Inside, fleeing nobles pulled up behind them the ladders that connected each story, leaving invaders no way to reach the family stronghold at the top of the tower. From the top they had a good vantage point to see what was going on.
The short tower in the photo (on the left) is from the 10th century, it is a typical merchants tower. The main door on the ground floor was the stables, warehouse upstairs, the holes in the wall outside held beams that once supported wooden balconies and the exterior staircase. Construction was heavy stone on the first floor and lighter, cheaper stone for the upper stories.
In the 14th century the the Black Plague struck the city, of the 13,000 residents, barely 4,000 survived. Once a fiercely independent town, now crushed and demoralised it came under the control of Florence and was forced to pull down its towers. To add insult to injury Florence redirected the vital trade route away from San Gimignano, the town never recovered and poverty left it in a 14th century architectural time warp it. That well preserved cityscape, ironically,is responsible for the towns prosperity today.
Being a hilltop town there are many areas with great panoramic views over the Tuscan countryside. Rosie and The Operator were lucky enough to have another balcony overlooking this beautiful landscape, a man playing the harp would busk just down the road in the evening, it was a lovely place for an evening vino.
After our balcony aperitif we went to Le Vecchie Mura Ristorante which has the most wonderful terrace to dine on in the evening. it too has the wide spreading views, beautiful box gardens and a huge fruiting persimmon tree that people sat under, as the sun went down and the lights came on it was magic.
San Gimignano is a beautiful well preserved town, it has a style and history that we from New Zealand never see because of the age of our young country, that is why we travel to Europe to experience the history and drink in the ancient beauty. This town was abit too well preserved, abit too touristy and abit too fake. There was not alot of evidence of everyday life going on in this old town….and man did it get crowded with tour groups during the day. Between 4pm and 9.00am when the last tour buses had rolled out of town for the night, the real town woke up a little….and you got to enjoy the town without hordes all around you…..this made it a special time and a special place.
Tomorrow we are off to another Tuscan hill town, this one abit grittier and abit more off the well beaten tourist track, Montepulciano. Gary loves the red wine from this area, so it would be rude not to sample it first hand.
