20 February 2024 – San Gimignano

Miles driven today = 33

Total Miles to date = 1,392

We escaped the clutches of Florence this morning and made our way along the roadworks strewn Autostrada, heading south towards Siena.  We made a brief stop at the wonderfully named Poggibonsi for a stock up at Lidl and then drove deeper into the Tuscany hills to the hilltop town of San Gimignano.

We parked up at the local aire (or rather sosta as I should be calling them now that we are in Italy) which is a couple of kilometres out of town and after a spot of lunch we jumped on the hourly bus service to the southern gate in the town wall, the Porto San Giovanni.  

From there we ambled uphill along the main street, Via San Giovanni which took us in the direction of the main central Piazzas.

The town was relatively quiet today but it is a major tourist pull in the Summer months.  

The road was lined with numerous shops selling local wines, oils, vinegar, salami and other Tuscan produce at seemingly rather over-inflated prices.

This chap failed to entice us in to buy any products made from his family members.

We passed under the Arco del Becci, seen on the right here, which was part of the original fortifications built before the town was extended in the 12th Century.

On into the first of two conjoined Squares, Piazza della Cisterna, so called because of the still functioning 13th Century cistern you can see in the middle of the picture.

We moved on uphill again into the Piazza del Duomo.  The building on the right is the Cathedral, although it can no longer officially be called a Duomo as the town no longer has a Bishop.  Nowadays it is known as the Collegiata.  The building to the left contains a museum of sacred art.

On the other side of the Piazza is the Palazzo Comunale.   

We read that the Collegiata contains some impressive 14th Century frescoes so we paid €5 each to go inside.  You weren’t supposed to take photos but I hid behind a pillar and got a few sneaky ones.  On the left hand side are old testament stories such as Noah and his ark building exploits, whereas the right hand side has excerpts from the New Testament.

Here on the right is Lazarus being raised from the dead.  He doesn’t look particularly pleased about it!

In a side chapel is this painting of the local Saint Fina who fell ill with an incurable disease at the age of 10 and spent the next five years until she died lying on a plank of wood and having Saintly visions.  You can see the towers of San Gimignano in the background.

We continued Northwards along Via San Matteo.

On reaching the town walls at the northern end we doubled back on ourselves and explored a few back alleys.  How about this for a quintessentially Italian scene.

We clambered up to the Rocca, the highest point in the town, for some unobstructed views across the Hills of Tuscany.

Only 14 of the towns original 72 towers survive to the current day.

The wine museum was closed but we had a look at the viewpoint there and admired this 1979 piece called “Sun & Water” by Nic Jonk.

We found our way back to the Plazza della Cisterna.

We had so far resisted any of the many Gelataria we have passed so far on our Italian wanderings but Sergio Dondoli’s establishment gets a special mention in the Rough Guide and the sign above the door claims his to be “the World’s most famous gelato 2024”.

I’m sure that there are plenty of other places making similar claims to fame but they were very, very good.  Lisa picked out the pink grapefruit and sparkling wine sorbet while I had cream with saffron and pine nuts.

Taking in the views one more time as we headed back to the bus stop.  You’d never tire of looking out at that every day would you?

We’ve had a couple of unforecast showers this afternoon and we were greeted by this rainbow when we got back to the van.  I’ve checked on the roof and unfortunately there’s no little Irish fella with a pot of gold up there.  It’s lovely and peaceful here though.  We might just stay another day before we launch ourselves at Siena.

21 February 2024 - Cheerio Tuscany, Hello Lazio