San Gimignano

The municipality of San Gimignano extends for 138 km² and is located on a hill in Val d'Elsa. The altitude difference is between a minimum of 64 meters a.s.l. in the plain of the river Elsa near Certaldo at a maximum of 631 meters in the area of Cornocchio.[7]

The central Piazza della Cisterna

In the 3rd century BC a small Etruscan village stood on the site of San Gimignano. Chroniclers Lupi, Coppi and Pecori relate that during the Catiline conspiracy against the Roman Republic in the 1st century, two patrician brothers, Muzio and Silvio, fled Rome for Valdelsa and built two castles, Mucchio and Silvia (now San Gimignano). The name of Silvia was changed to San Gimignano in 450 AD after Bishop Geminianus, the Saint of Modena, intervened to spare the castle from destruction by the followers of Attila the Hun.[8] As a result, a church was dedicated to the saint, and in the 6th and 7th centuries a walled village grew up around it, subsequently called the "Castle of San Gimignano" or Castle of the Forest because of the extensive woodland surrounding it. From 929 the town was ruled by the bishops of Volterra.[9]

In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance era, it was a stopping point for Catholic pilgrims on their way to Rome and the Vatican, as it sits on the medieval Via Francigena.[8] The city's development was also improved by the trade of agricultural products from the fertile neighbouring hills, in particular saffron, used in both cooking and dyeing cloth and Vernaccia wine, said to inspire popes and poets.[6][9]

In 1199, the city made itself independent of the bishops of Volterra and established a podestà, and set about enriching the commune with churches and public buildings. However, the peace of the town was disturbed for the next two centuries by conflict between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, and family rivalries within San Gimignano.[9] This resulted in competing families building tower houses of increasingly greater heights. Towards the end of the Medieval period, there were 72 tower houses in number, up to 70 metres (230 feet) tall. The rivalry was finally restrained when the local council ordained that no tower was to be taller than that adjacent to the Palazzo Comunale.[9]

While the official patron is Saint Geminianus, the town also honours Saint Fina, known also as Seraphina and Serafina, who was born in San Gimignano 1238 and whose feast day is 12 March. The Chapel of Santa Fina in the Collegiate Church houses her shrine and frescos by Ghirlandaio.[10] The house said to be her home still stands in the town.

On 8 May 1300, San Gimignano hosted Dante Alighieri in his role as ambassador of the Guelph League in Tuscany.[8]

The city flourished until 1348, when it was struck by the Black Death that affected all of Europe, and about half the townsfolk died.[9] The town submitted to the rule of Florence. Initially, some Gothic palazzi were built in the Florentine style, and many of the towers were reduced to the height of the houses.[9] There was little subsequent development, and San Gimignano remained preserved in its medieval state until the 19th century, when its status as a touristic and artistic resort began to be recognised.

Historic Centre of San Gimignano

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Criteria	Cultural: i, iii, iv
Reference	550
Inscription	1990 (14th Session)
Area	13.88 ha

The city is on the ridge of a hill with its main axis being north/south. It is encircled by three walls and has at its highest point, to the west, the ruins of a fortress dismantled in the 16th century. There are eight entrances into the city, set into the second wall, which dates from the 12th and 13th centuries.[11][12] The main gates are Porta San Giovanni on the ridge extending south, Porta San Matteo to the north west and Porta S. Jacopo to the north east. The main streets are Via San Matteo and Via San Giovanni, which cross the city from north to south. At the heart of the town are four squares: the Piazza Duomo, on which stands the Collegiate Church; the Piazza della Cisterna, the Piazza Pecori and the Piazza delle Erbe. To the north of the town is another significant square, Piazza Agostino, on which stands the Church of Sant' Agostino. The locations of the Collegiate Church and Sant' Agostino's and their piazzas effectively divide the town into two regions.

The town of San Gimignano has many examples of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. As well as churches and medieval fortifications, there are examples of Romanesque secular and domestic architecture which may be distinguished from each other by their round and pointed arches, respectively. A particular feature which is typical of the region of Siena is that the arches of openings are depressed, with doorways often having a second low arch set beneath a semi-circular or pointed arch. Both Romanesque and Gothic windows sometimes have a bifurcate form, with two openings divided by a stone mullion under a single arch.[13][14]

Towers

Towers in San Gimignano

Torre Grossa

Torre Rognosa

While in other cities, such as Florence, most or all of their towers have been brought down by wars, catastrophes, or urban renewal, San Gimignano has managed to conserve fourteen towers of varying heights, for which it is known internationally.

• Campanile della Collegiata
• Torri degli Ardinghelli
• Torre dei Becci
• Torre Campatelli
• Torre Chigi (1280)
• Torre dei Cugnanesi
• Torre del Diavolo
• Torre Ficherelli or Ficarelli
• Torre Grossa (1311),[15] 54 metres (177 ft)[16]
• Torre di Palazzo Pellari
• Casa-torre Pesciolini
• Torre Pettini
• Torre Rognosa, 51 metres (167 ft)
• Torri dei Salvucci

San Gimignano is the birthplace of the poet Folgore da San Gimignano (1270–1332).

A fictionalised version of San Gimignano is featured in E. M. Forster's 1905 novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread as Monteriano.

M. C. Escher's 1923 woodcut San Gimignano depicts the celebrated towers.

Franco Zeffirelli used San Gimignano as a stand-in for the town of Assisi in his 1972 Saint Francis of Assisi biopic Brother Sun, Sister Moon. Most of the "Assisi" scenes were filmed here

Tea with Mussolini, a 1999 drama about the plight of English and American expatriate women in Italy during World War II, was filmed in part in San Gimignano. The frescoes that the women save from being destroyed during the German Army's withdrawal are inside the Duomo, the town's main church. The account of this episode is, to a large extent, fictional, because, although there are reports of intended retribution against the town,[17] there is no evidence of a plan to destroy the churches. However, the reference to risk of cultural destruction is historic, as the Allies bombed the area for ten days.[18]

In the 2005 novel The Broker by John Grisham, Joel Backman takes his second of three wives on vacation in Italy to keep her from divorcing him. They rent a 14th-century monastery near San Gimignano for a month.

A 15th-century version of the town is featured in the 2009 video game Assassin's Creed II.[19]

The Town Hall (Palazzo Comunale) nearby the Duomo

San Gimignano is headed by a mayor (sindaco) assisted by a legislative body, the consiglio comunale, and an executive body, the giunta comunale. Since 1995 the mayor and members of the consiglio comunale are directly elected together by resident citizens, while from 1945 to 1995 the mayor was chosen by the legislative body. The giunta comunale is chaired by the mayor, who appoints others members, called assessori. The offices of the comune are housed in a building usually called the municipio or palazzo comunale.

Since 1995 the mayor of San Gimignano is directly elected by citizens, originally every four, then every five years. The current mayor is Andrea Marrucci (PD), elected on 26 May 2019 with the 70.3% of the votes.

San Gimignano is twinned with:

• Český Krumlov, Czech Republic
• Meersburg, Germany[21]
• Mestia, Georgia[22]

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  Window in a San Gimignano cafe, facing eastward

• Wall mural in Grossi Florentino, executed by students of Napier Waller under supervision

• AA. VV., Medieval Churches of the Val d'Elsa. The territories of the Via Francigena between Siena and San Gimignano, Empoli, dell'Acero Publishers, 1996. ISBN 88-86975-08-2
• Vantaggi, Rosella (1979). San Gimignano: Town of the Fine Towers. Plurigraf.
• von der Haegen, Anne Mueller; Strasser, Ruth (2001). Art and Architecture of Tuscany. Kőnemann. ISBN 3-8290-2652-8.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to San Gimignano.

• "San Gimignano" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). 1911.
• San Gimignano travel guide from Wikivoyage
• San Gimignano - The town of the beautiful towers
• A Walk in San Gimignano Archived 2011-02-03 at the Wayback Machine
• SanGimignano1300, a local museum
• Video Introduction to San Gimignano
• San Gimignano virtual tour (Italian Landmarks)
• San Gimignano Guide
• Commune of San Gimignano Archived 2012-05-11 at the Wayback Machine