San Gimignano at sunset

San Gimignano is a beautiful medieval town located in Tuscany, Italy in the Siena Province. This beautiful walled hill town is mainly famous for its architecture dating back to medieval times and its high towers which can even be seen from the surrounding areas. The town is spread over an area of 138 sq km with the population of close to 7500 inhabitants.

According to scholars the town was first founded by the Etruscans around the 3rd century BC. The economy of San Gimignano is dependent mainly on agriculture, wine production and now on tourism. Because of the rise in agritourism, San Gimignano is now being visited by more tourists each year that come here to enjoy its beautiful natural beauty and its architecture.

Getting to San Gimignano

There is no train station in San Gimignano but visitors can take a train to Poggibonsi and then reach San Gimignano by bus. There are plenty of buses that leave for San Gimignano from Florence and Siena. Roughly around five to six buses depart for the town every day from these two larger cities and tickets are easily available. Visitors can also reach San Gimignano from Volterra and from Colle di Val d'Elsa. Visitors who have their own cars can easily drive down from Siena or Florence and reach San Gimignano in a little more than an hour.

Moving Around the Town

San Gimignano is a small walled town. No cars are allowed within the walls of the walled town and visitors who have their own cars would have to park them outside the walls in one of the parking lots. Buses that operate from Porta San Giovanni would leave visitors outside the walls. Inside the walled town, visitors can easily explore the area on foot since it is very small. Most of the attractions can all be visited within one day even on foot.

Attractions in San Gimignano

Piazza Del Duomo

Towers of San Gimignao

The Piazza Del Duomo is the main piazza of San Gimignano. The piazza is quite picturesque and the main cathedral of the town is located here. Around the piazza are several large towers that are believed to have been built around a thousand years ago. Since this is the main piazza it tends to get crowded with tourists. 

San Gimignano Museum

The San Gimignano museum is the main museum in town and gives good information about the historic, architectural and cultural aspects of the city. There is a large representation of what the town had looked like during the 13th and the 14th centuries.

The Collegiata

The Collegiata is located quite close to the main Duomo in San Gimignano. Although the collegiate is quite small it is beautifully decorated. There are several good frescoes inside depicting scenes of the old and the New Testament.

The Pinacoteca Civica

The Pinacoteca Civica is a civic art museum. The tiny museum is located in the Palazzo Publicco and has an impressive collection of art work from some of the well known artists in the region. Tourists who are interested in art would find the Pinacoteca Civica quite interesting.

The Towers

San Gimignano had as many as seventy two towers before centuries, out of which only fourteen remain today. The towers were originally built by the rich residents of the town for safety but most of them were destroyed when Florence had attacked the town.

Church of Sant' Agostino

San Gimignano

The church of Sant Agostino has been beautifully decorated. There are several beautiful frescoes inside made by some very popular artists like Benozo Gozzoli. The frescoes represent scenes from the life of Saint Agostino. 

Piazza Della Cisterna

Piazza Della Cisterna is an old piazza in San Gimignano which is one of the most medieval looking piazzas in the town. There is an old stone well in the center of the piazza which is not in use any longer. The weekly market is organized here in the piazza every Thursday.

Fiera Delle Messi

Fiera Delle Messi is held in San Gimignano every year in June. The locals take out a procession and are dressed in medieval costumes and various traditional rituals are followed during the festival. There is normally a feast after the procession.

Stay and Accommodation

San Gimignano has quite a lot of good hotels since the town attracts many tourists every year. There are also a few good Bed & Breakfasts and some luxury hotels in Sam Gimignano as well as in the towns nearby. However, not people prefer to stay in town since there are only a few places to explore here. Some of the good hotels to try in San Gimignano are Hotel Casolare le Terre Rosse, Villa Ducci, Hotel Sovestro, Relais Capuccina, La Cisterna, L'Antico Pozzo, Leon Bianco, Hotel San Michele and Hotel Villa Belvedre.

Eating in San Gimignano

Aerial view of San Gimignano

There are some good restaurants, bars, trattorias and pizzerias in San Gimignano where visitors can get good food. The restaurants here serve food which is simple and made with freshly grown ingredients and the dishes are mostly Italian and Tuscan. Sea food and good wines are available everywhere in San Gimignano. Some of the best known restaurants in town are Ristorante Le Terazze, Ristorante Le Vecchia Mura, Osteria Delle Catene and Dulcisinfundo. There are plenty of smaller restaurants around the center of the historic town where the locals eat, these places serve good food at quite low rates.

Shopping in San Gimignano

There are a few places in San Gimignano where tourists can shop. There are quite a lot of small shops in the older section of the town where locals sell clothes, jewelry, furniture, pottery and many other artifacts. The town is known mostly for its olive oil, wine, dairy products and agricultural products so the best things to purchase in San Gimignano are bottles of wines and virgin olive oil and local cheese. There are many vineyards located around San Gimignano where good quality grape vines are grown and the wines available here are known to be some of the best in Italy.