Oct 1, 2021
San Gimignano is only 50 minutes away from Siena so we decided to hop over and see it. It is a lovely city with tall buildings that look like ancient skyscrapers. At one time there were more than 70 towers in the city. Today only about 8 remain. The building craze was inspired by the wealthy who decided to build tall tower’s outdoing their rivals in height.
The building crazy lasted from 1119 AD to the 13th century when the plague (Black Death), internal divisions and famines tore the city apart. This was also the city where Dante resided as an envoy from the city of Florence. The city today remains a wonderful preserved World Heritage site of small lanes and beautiful buildings and magnificent frescos at the Main cathedral.
After a morning tour we took advantage of a wonderful lunch which included wild boar carpaccio and saffron pasta. We washed it all down with a fantastic bottle of local white wine called Vernacia de San Gimignano and Vin Santo.
