What is San Gimignano known for?

Surviving tower-houses out of 72 built between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries by patrician families, the skyline UNESCO listed since 1990. White wine from local vineyards, praised by Dante in Purgatorio XXIV and the first Italian wine to receive DOC status in 1966. Year the Black Death halved the population and forced submission to Florence, freezing the medieval skyline in place.

Where is San Gimignano?

San Gimignano is a comune in the province of Siena, Tuscany region of Italy, about 59 kilometers from Firenze.

Tuscany · Siena

San Gimignano

A walled hill townwith 14 surviving medieval towers, UNESCO listed since 1990 and the home of Vernaccia.

59 km / 37 mi

Nearest hub (Firenze)

7,480

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

San Gimignano sitsin the Val d'Elsa, halfway between Firenze and Siena on the medieval pilgrim road to Rome. Patrician families built 72 tower-houses in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as proofs of wealth and platforms for vendettas; 14 still stand, the tallest being the Torre Grossa. The town declared independence from the bishops of Volterra in 1199 and grew rich on saffron and Vernaccia, the white wine grown on the surrounding hills and praised since Dante. The Black Death of 1348 broke the boom; San Gimignano lost more than half its population and submitted to Florence. That collapse is the reason the medieval skyline survived. UNESCO listed the historic centre in 1990 as a complete record of feudal architecture. Roughly three million visitors come each year, more than 400 times the resident population, and the centro storico empties into the surrounding olive groves once the day-trippers leave.

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Gallery

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Known for

Torre Grossa
Fifty-four meter civic tower attached to the Palazzo Comunale, the tallest of the surviving 14, open for the climb to the panoramic terrace.
Piazza della Cisterna
Triangular medieval square paved in brick around an octagonal well of 1287, lined by tower houses and Romanesque palaces.
Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta
Romanesque parish church on Piazza Duomo, walls covered by Bartolo di Fredi and Lippo Memmi frescoes of Old and New Testament scenes.
Palazzo Comunale
Thirteenth-century town hall on Piazza Duomo, holding the civic art collection with works by Lippo Memmi, Pinturicchio and Benozzo Gozzoli.
Chiesa di Sant'Agostino
Augustinian church at the northern end of town with a fresco cycle on the life of Saint Augustine by Benozzo Gozzoli from 1465.
Museo della Tortura
Private museum of medieval and modern instruments of torture, controversial but among the most visited collections in the town.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the months the town is worth a full day rather than three hours. The buses still come, but late afternoon empties the piazzas and lets the towers take their light. July and August push temperatures past thirty and the centro storico becomes uncomfortable between two and six, when the stone radiates heat. November through March is quiet by Tuscan standards, meaning many shops keep reduced hours; the museums stay open, the Collegiata frescoes are visible without queues, and the Val d'Elsa at dawn from Porta San Giovanni is a different town from the one the day-trippers see.