San Gimignano Twin Towers in Tuscany Italy

From Pisa we set off to visit the San Gimignano twin towers, an UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were treated to a great visual treat as we arrived at this tower-topped town in central Tuscany. To our surprise there were fourteen of them! Located on a hill, at an elevation of 334m above sea level, the skyline of towers were visible from a considerable distance. My kids were curious: would one of them be a like the leaning tower of Pisa?!

These towers were built by warring wealthy families of the eleventh and thirteenth centuries to establish their power and dominance during the Middle Ages. The mediaeval traders made a fortune by exploiting the town’s strategic location – between Sienna and Florence – on the high traffic Via Francigena pilgrimage route to Rome.

San Gimignano twin towers

This medieval town was once important as pilgrims halted there enroute to Rome, Vatican and then Jerusalem. The town once had 72 towers, of which only 14 stand tall today having resisted the deteriorating effects of time. Gimignano towers were the skyscrapers of medieval ages and they are visible from miles away even today.

History of San Gimignano Towers

Like the traders of Jaisalmer, the traders of Gimgnano too vied with each other to express their might through the towers. Only difference being Jaisalmer traders expanded on a horizontal plan as they could not surpass the height the King’s palace, Gimignano traders competed with each other in terms of height of their towers. It was their status symbols of prestige and power. Due to the confines of the fortified hilltop town, the traders were unable to build grandiose palaces.

San Gimignano 14 towers

San Gimignano 14 towers

San Gimignano Piazza Duomo

After 13th century there was reversal of fortunes due to Black Plague which killed many of its residents. The pilgrims avoided this path and rerouted their journey through Florence. This resulted in its loss of glory and revenue. It slipped into oblivion before being rediscovered by 19th-century visitors on the Grand Tour of Italy.

Thankfully the changing society outside hardly affected the architecture and atmosphere within the town’s walls. Credit also goes to Cosimo I de’ Medici, Lord of all Tuscany, who in the mid-16th century decreed that San Gimignano could not be enlarged or restructured. The pre-baroque state of the historic centre is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Town of Towers San Gimignano Italy

Legends of Gimignano

  • San Gimignano gained its name from the bishop of Modena, St Geminianus, who – according to legend – saved the inhabitants from barbarians.
  • The town is associated with St Serafina, a pious orphan girl who died of a debilitating disease at the age of fifteen after five years of agony and spiritual devotion. The town celebrates her feast day is celebrated each year on 12 March, on the anniversary of her death in 1253.

Interior of Towers of San Gimignano

The towers had a unique plan to make it friendly and useful for its residents. Ground floor would consist of a workshop, the 1st  and 2nd floors were the bedrooms. Top floor was for the kitchen – in such a way that any accidental fire in the kitchen would allow residents to escape safely.

Rooms were small (1 x 2 m.), had few openings and 2 m. thick walls which keep things and people cool in the summer, warm in the winter.

It was worth spending >one hour here, roaming aimlessly along the twisted narrow lanes. The place still reflects the eleventh and thirteenth century prosperity and the old crumbling walls plead with you to linger on there for a longer time.

Popular Towers of San Gimignano

Palazzo Comunale or Town Hall, which is open to the public, has the ancient Council Hall and a gallery of Tuscan painters, has fascinating frescoes of life in the Middle Ages. Towers grew to a height of 70 m. until the city council decided that no one was to have a tower higher than that of the Palazzo Comunale, or city hall.

Torre Grossa is 54 m. (218 steps), a height that took 11 years to achieve.

Torre del Podestà in Piazza Duomo is worth a visit to get a feel of how citizens must have lived in these medieval skyscrapers.

Things to Do in San Gamignano

Chapels and Churches

The St. Fina chapel – This chapel is one of Italy’s most prized examples of renaissance architecture, painting and sculpture. The chapel contains two exquisite scenes, painted by Domenico Ghirlandaio, central to Fina’s life; her vision of Pope Gregory announcing her impending death, eight days before she died, and her subsequent funeral.

Collegiata Church in Piazza del Duomo has fresco cycles depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments – described by UNESCO as “works of outstanding beauty” – by artists such as Benozzo Gozzoli, Taddeo di Bartolo, Lippo Memmi and Bartolo di Fredi.

Museums in San Gimignano

The town houses several art museums such as the Pinacoteca, which showcases examples of medieval and high renaissance works.

Museum of Sacred Art, has an impressive collection of wooden sculptures dating from the 14th century.

The Museum of Medieval Torture is spread out over two nearby buildings, that has unsettling graphic contents with gruesome detail, the torture methods of the Middle Ages, some visual aids including tortured wax models and blood-curdling illustrations in addition to elaborate texts on them. One ticket allows access to both.

The Tower Town an Inspiration for Artists

English novelist E. M. Forster, after staying in San Gimignano, wrote about the fictionalised Monteriano in his 1905 novel Where Angels Fear to Tread.

Dutch graphic artist M. C. Escher immortalised the town’s skyline in two woodcut prints in the early 1920s.

San Gimignano town featured prominently in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1999 semi-autobiographical film Tea with Mussolini.

Gift ideas from San Gimignano

I found the pottery and ceramic works of art on display very interesting. Very fragile, you have to think twice before ordering them.

There were leather stuff on sale like jackets, belts, purses and more. Be sure they are locally made ones and not sourced from elsewhere before you make the purchase.

How to reach San Gimignano Twin Towers

All tourists intending to tour the town of towers have to walk the final stretch to the centre from the car park that is almost halfway up the hill. It is an enjoyable one with amazing scenic sights below and old high walls. Those who have checked into hotels must return their vehicle to the car park below within ten minutes.

View from town of towers

View from town of towers San Gimignano

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