San Gimignano is one of the most picturesque and suggestive of Tuscany.
It extends, all embraced in its double ring of walls and dotted with tall towers in the sea of olive trees that cover a hill dominating the Elsa Valley.
It appears in the list of World Heritage in Europe of the UNESCO.

History

San Gimignano, of ancient origin, was named the Bishop of Modena who lived during the ^fourth century.

The city preserves almost intact its architectural features of the ^thirteenth and ^fourteenth centuries.

Former seat of a small village Etruscan the Hellenistic period , San Gimignano begins his history around the ^tenth century when it takes the name of the holy bishop of Modena , St. Gimignano, who saved the village from barbarian hordes. San Gimignano is experiencing a great development during the Middle Ages thanks to the Via Francigena running through it. Y bloom number of works of art that adorn the churches and convents.

In 1199, San Gimignano became a common law, with its first Podesta after breaking his enslavement to the Bishops of Volterra. She took the name of San Gimignano delle Belle Torri has 75 tower houses but it suffers from infighting that divide into two factions: those of Ardinghelli ( Guelphs ) and that of Salvucci ( Ghibellines ). 8 May 1300, it hosts Dante Alighieri , Ambassador of the Guelph League in Tuscany.

The terrible plague of 1348 and the ensuing depopulation, San Gimignano throw in a serious crisis and the town must submit to Florence in 1353.

That was followed as artistic influences Florentine, Sienese that Pisan.

Economy

The city is now a center for furniture manufacturing and especially famous for its wine Vernaccia di San Gimignano ^(1st DOCG designation of origin Italian awarded in March 1966).

Tourism is very active in this jewel of Tuscany, medieval town surrounded by walls (hamlet) famous for its towers.

Culture

People born in San Gimignano

• Giovanni Antonio Dosio , architect and sculptor (San Gimignano 1533 - Rome around 1609)
• Filippo Buonaccorsi (Latin Philippus Callimachus Experiens), Italian humanist refugee in Poland, historian and writer of Latin, political advisor and diplomat (San Gimignano 1437 - Cracow 1496)

Monuments

Panorama from the tower of Palazzo del Popolo

Place de la Cisterna

Piazza del Duomo and the Collegiate

Tour

The city is enclosed by ramparts and remains of medieval architecture:

The most interesting monuments of the city are the Cathedral, City Hall (the Hall of the People) and the Church of S. Agostino.

The number of turns 75, and 25 pass the end of the year 1500 and today, 13 remain intact.

• On the Piazza della Cisterna, triangular square with its well thirteenth ^century that gives it its name:
  • Casa Salvestrini the thirteenth ^century,
  • Palazzo Tortoli-Treccani, 1300,
  • Palazzo dei Cortesi with an imposing tower,
  • Ardinghelli of the twin towers.

• On the Piazza del Duomo , center of the city:
  • The old Palazzo del Podest (1239), based on an arcade called the loggia and its tower of 51 m, Rognosa.
  • The Palazzo del Popolo (Palazzo Nuovo del Podest) built in 1283 on plans to Arnolfo di Cambio and its tower of 54 m. Grossa It houses the museum and art gallery in the city, with works by Guido da Siena , the Pinturicchio , of Fra Filippo Lippi , of Benozzo Gozzoli , Lorenzo di Niccolo , Domenico di Michelino , Pier Francesco Fiorentino and other artists Sienese and Florentine. Inside the palace, Dante Alighieri gave a speech May 18 in 1300 to invite people to enter the league Guelph Tuscan and send deputies to a congress Guelph. In the great hall of Dante Maest (1317) of Lippo Memmi.
  • The College of San Gimignano from the ^twelfth century frescoes of Heaven and Hell Taddeo di Bartolo , the martyrdom of St. Sebastian Benozzo Gozzoli , the scenes of the Old Testament of Bartolo di Fredi. The cycle of frescoes of the New Testament of Barna da Siena times by Lippo and Francesco Memmi , the chapel of Santa Fina Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano (1468), the altar of the chapel is by Benedetto da Maiano and it is topped with frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio that mimic the life of St. Santa Fina Fine, the girl from San Gimignano, who lived there in 1200.

• The church of S. Agostino (1298) Romano-Gothic:
  • The chapel of San Bartolo and his marble altar by Benedetto da Maiano (1494)
  • The choir and its main altarpiece of the Coronation of the Virgin of Piero del Pollaiuolo, Benozzo Gozzoli's frescoes on the life of St. Agostino.

• The tower houses:
  • Torre Rognosa, 52 m
  • Torre Grossa, 54 m
  • Torri dei Salvucci, twin 51 m
  • Torri degli Ardinghelli
  • Torre dei Becci
  • Torre Chigi (1280)
  • Torre dei Cugnanesi
  • Torre del Diavolo
  • Torre di palazzo Pellar

The city is listed in world heritage of UNESCO since 1990.

Museum Complex

• Spedale di Santa Fina
  • The Spezieria di Santa Fina
  • Museo Archeologico,
  • Galleria d'arte
• The museum San Gimignano 1300 : Located in the heart of the city, the museum offers an impressive reproduction ceramic decorated the town of San Gimignano as it was between the ^thirteenth and ^fourteenth centuries. The replica can observe the harmonious structure of 72 urban tower houses that have symbolized the power of the medieval city and understand how life inside a medieval town and enjoy more closely what was preserved during the centuries of history.

Administration

Hamlets

Pancole , Badia a Elmi, Villa del Monte, Sant'Andrea Ulignano, Casaglia, San Donato

Common Boundary

Barberino Val d'Elsa (FI), Certaldo (FI), Colle di Val d'Elsa , Gambassi Terme (FI), Poggibonsi , Volterra (PI)

Demographics

Residents identified

Twinning

• Meersburg ( Germany )

References

Trivia

Video Games

• San Gimignano is one of the cities within and beyond the game Assassin's Creed II.

Sources

See also

Internal Links

• The tower houses of Tuscany

External Links

• on