San Gimignano
A visit of San Gimignano is truly another special experience. Saved from “fading away” by UNESCO finances San Gimignano has been restored following strictly the original outlook and thus offers the visitor of today a genuine picture of a town in its peak Medieval splendour.
The typical feature of this town are its well retained dynasty towers, in former times the characteristics of many other Tuscan towns then torn down by the conquerors and disappearing as a consequence of modern city planning.
This impressive silhouette presents itself to the visitor already over long distance and has lead to the term “The Tuscan Manhattan”.
San Gimignano owes its former importance to its location along the “Via Francigena”, the Francs’ Road, which was the merchants North/South trade line as well as the route of the pilgrims on their way to Rome. The inhabitants proved to be excellent merchants and thus came to remarkable wealth; this also found its manifestation in daily life causing the authorities to pass a law against excessive luxury.
When, still in Medieval times, the swamps were drained the route of Via Francigena changed more and more to the areas easier to travel, thus San Gimignano lost its importance, was forgotten and impoverished. Nowadays San Gimignano is a flourishing town again drawing its wealth from a never ending flow of tourists.
Motor cars are banned from inside the city walls, parking lots in front of the city entrance.
