San Gimignano beautiful towers
Duration 2 hours
A guided tour to discover San Gimignano, a UNESCO world heritage site for its beautiful old town center with its famous towers, pratically unchanged since the Middle Ages.
San Gimignano is one of the Tuscan towns that has best retained the urban layout from the Municipal period. In our itinerary we will walk the Via Francigena, around which the first village was formed on, starting from the Porta San Giovanni to the extreme opposite one, Porta San Matteo.
While walking through, the tour will reveal the secrets of Piazza della Cisterna and Piazza del Duomo, famous for the Palaces of the Podestà and the towers of the Salvucci Family; other interesting stops of our itinerary will be the viewpoint, situated on top of the town, and the church of Sant’Agostino with frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli.
Info and reservations
THIRD SATURDAY OF THE MONTH
San Gimignano Past and Present
Guided tour to discover the two souls of the city known as the Manhattan of the Middle Ages. San Gimignano holds two complementary souls, which make the city a unique place where history and modernity coexist in the shadow of the towers.
Every third Saturday of the month, a guided tour to discover the ancient and contemporary city, in a constant dialogue between the beauty of the Middle Ages and the most recent art: a contrast that fascinates and amazes, as unexpected as it is wonderful.
In addition to exploring the historic and medieval corners of San Gimignano, the itinerary includes a visit to the Galleria Continua, which hosts important exhibitions and installations by internationally renowned contemporary artists.
Info and Booking
The visit takes place on the third Saturday of the month, at 03:00 PM, in Italian.
Rate € 20 per person, free for children up to 6 years
Centro Guide Siena e Toscana: info@guidesiena.it 057743273
Pro Loco San Gimignano: info@sangimignano.com
Other visits that may be added to the tours are:
maximum duration 6 hours
Visit to the Municipal Museum. Here are preserved some valuable tables of the 13th and 14th centuries, the artworks of artists such as Coppo Marcovaldo, Benozzo Gozzoli, Filippino Lippi and Pinturicchio.
Visit to the Cathedral. The Duomo, or rather the Collegiata of San Gimignano, preservs two cycles of frescoes about the Old and the New Testament ,which are fourteenth-century works, the San Sebastiano by Benozzo Gozzoli and the chapel of Santa Fina with frescoes by Ghirlandaio.
Archaeological Museum and Pharmacy of Santa Fina. Here are preserved Etruscan finds found in the area and a collection of vases, tools, utensils and several „alborelli“ vases used in the past to preserve medicines.
Museum San Gimignano 1300. Here we can a miniature reproduction of the citiy i all ist detailes, particularly interesting for the lovers of history and urban planning.
Info and reservations
Val d’Elsa
Museums, medieval villages, battle spaces, Leonardo da Vinci’s places:
all in one valley. Discover our Val d’Elsa tours.
Monteriggioni
During this tour we will discover together the history and characteristics of the fortress of Monteriggioni, living once again its most important and exciting moments of the past. Together, with our guides, we will be able to reach the walkway of the city’s walls and visit the museum of medieval armors.
Monteriggioni is the main border fortress built by the Sienese on the Via Francigena in the 13th century as a military outpost against Florence.
Dante himself was impressed by the huge towers that surrounded its walls and mentions them in the 21th canto of the Hell of the famous Divine Comedy.
Today it is a beautiful place for the many tourists who stop there before reaching Siena or the Via del Chianti Classico.
Info and reservations
Colle Val d’Elsa
“Colle” which means “hill”, as the Tuscans call it, is a place rich of history and traditions. Our guides will take you through the most fascinating monuments of Colle Alta, the oldest and best preserved part of the town: the Palazzo Campana, the Sapia’s Bastion, the Via delle Volte, the Cathedral dedicated to the Santi Alberto and Marziale where the relic of the Holy Nail is preserved, the Pieve di Santa Maria in Canonica and the Tower of Arnolfo.
Upon request, you may add to the guided tour:
Visit to the Museum of Lead-Crystal Glass, craft for which the Colle’s artisans are masters with no match since the Middle Ages, and a visit to one of the factories that still in our days works the glass combining technology and tradition.
Visit to the Museum of Arte Sacra. The museum houses a valuable collection of gold-ground paintings and the Tesoro di Galognano, a rare eucharistic silver set from the 6th century, the Maestà del Maestro di Badia a Isola and a polychrome wooden crucifix of the 13th century. Among other works, the Madonna and Child by Segna di Bonaventura and the Madonna and Child with Saints by Pier Francesco Fiorentino.
Visit to the Archeological Museum Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli. The museum displays collections from Etruscan coming from the territory of Colle di Val d ‘Elsa and Monteriggioni. The most important finds are represented by the set of the late-orientalizing period tomb of Campiglia dei Foci, known as Tomba Pierini, and the reconstruction of an Etruscan girl’s face, buried 2,500 years ago in a tomb around the area of Le Porciglia.
This tour may also be combined with tours of San Gimignano or Certaldo.
Info and reservations
Certaldo
maximum duration 6 hours
A guided tour to discover the history and the breathtaking landscapes of one of the most beautiful medieval villages of Tuscany, birthplace of Boccaccio and an actual open-air museum.
Thanks to the combined ticket valid for all the town’s museums, you may include in the itinerary a visit to Boccaccio’s house, the Arte Sacra Museum and the entrance to the Palazzo dei Vicari, which houses the Tabernacle of the Executed by Benozzo Gozzoli.
May be also combined with the tour of San Gimignano or Colle Val d’Elsa, with a stop at Monteriggioni (maximum 6 hours).
Info and reservations
