San Gimignano
San Gimignano rises with its towers, on a hill (334m high) dominating the Elsa Valley. Seat of a small Etruscan village of the Hellenistic period (III-II century BC.) Its history began around the tenth century, taking the name of the Holy Bishop of Modena, St. Gimignano, who saved the village from the barbarian hordes. Developed greatly during the Middle Ages thanks to the Via Francigena that crosses it.
In fact, San Gimignano, the flourishing of works of art to adorn the churches and convents. In 1199 it became a free municipality and fought against the Bishops of Volterra and the surrounding municipalities, suffered internal strife divided into two factions in the wake of Ardinghelli (Guelph) and Salvucci (Ghibellines). The May 8, 1300 Dante Alighieri ambaciatore of the Guelph League in Tuscany. The terrible plague of 1348 and the subsequent depopulation threw San Gimignano into a serious crisis. The town had therefore to submit to Florence. Degradation and abandonment of centuries after it came out only when we began to rediscover the beauty of the city, its cultural importance and the original agricultural identity.
Artistic itineraries
The Cathedral or Collegiate Church, consecrated in 1148, structured around three aisles is enriched with valuable affereschi Sienese school: Old and New Testament (Bartolo di Fredi and "Memmi's workshop"), Judgement (Taddeo di Bartolo), school works Florentine: Stories of Saint Fina (Ghirlandaio), San Sebastian (Benozzo Gozzoli), wooden statues (Jacopo della Quercia) and sculptures of Giuliano and Benedetto da Majano. All this makes the Collegiate Church of San Gimignano a very prestigious museum.
Town Hall: Courtyard and Dante Hall with the Majesty of Lippo Memmi. Museum and Art Gallery with works by Filippino Lippi, Pinturicchio, Benozzo Gozzoli, Dominic Michael, Pier Francesco Fiorentino, Sebastiano Mainardi, Lorenzo di Niccolò di Martino Coppo Marcovaldo etc. ... Since museum you can visit the Torre Grossa or Mayor built in 1311 and 54 meters high.
Museum of Sacred Art: Canvases, boards and stone fragments from churches and convents. Silverware, choral and liturgical vestments.
Archaeological Museum archaeological Etruscan, Roman and medieval finds from excavations in the municipal area. Apothecary of Santa Fina, material from the Hospital Pharmacy of Santa Fina, which reproduces the old pharmacy, with the ceramic and glass containers and medicines. Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art "R. De Grada "exhibition space of the city.
Church of St. Augustine: Stories of St. Agostino (Benozzo Gozzoli), remains of fourteenth-century frescoes, tables and paintings by different artists (Benozzo Gozzoli, Piero del Pollaiuolo, Pier Francesco Fiorentino, Vincenzo Tamagni, Sebastiano Mainardi). Chapel of St. Bartolo (Benedetto da Majano).
Smaller churches: St. Bartolo, S. James, St. Peter, St. Francis (remains), San Lorenzo Bridge. And again: Ornithological Museum, Museum of Torture, Medieval Sources and the Fortress of Montestaffoli.
