The municipality of San Gimignano extends for 138 km² and is located on a hill in Val d'Elsa. The altitude difference is between a minimum of 64 meters a.s.l. in the plain of theriver Elsa nearCertaldo at a maximum of 631 meters in the area of Cornocchio.[7]
In the 3rd century BC a smallEtruscan village stood on the site of San Gimignano. Chroniclers Lupi, Coppi and Pecori relate that during theCatiline conspiracy against theRoman Republic in the 1st century, two patrician brothers, Muzio and Silvio, fled Rome forValdelsa and built two castles, Mucchio and Silvia (now San Gimignano). The name of Silvia was changed to San Gimignano in 450 AD after BishopGeminianus, the Saint of Modena, intervened to spare the castle from destruction by the followers ofAttila the Hun.[8] As a result, a church was dedicated to the saint, and in the 6th and 7th centuries a walled village grew up around it, subsequently called the "Castle of San Gimignano" or Castle of the Forest because of the extensive woodland surrounding it. From 929 the town was ruled by the bishops ofVolterra.[9]
In the Middle Ages and theRenaissance era, it was a stopping point forCatholicpilgrims on their way toRome and theVatican, as it sits on the medievalVia Francigena.[8] The city's development was also improved by the trade of agricultural products from the fertile neighboring hills, in particularsaffron, used in both cooking and dyeing cloth, andVernaccia wine, said to inspire popes and poets.[6][9]
In 1199, the city made itself independent of the bishops ofVolterra and established apodestà, and set about enriching thecommune with churches and public buildings. However, the peace of the town was disturbed for the next two centuries by conflict betweenthe Guelphs and the Ghibellines, and family rivalries within San Gimignano.[9] This resulted in competing families buildingtower houses of increasingly greater heights. Towards the end of the Medieval period, there were 72 tower houses in number, up to 70 metres (230 feet) tall. The rivalry was finally restrained when the local council ordained that no tower was to be taller than that adjacent to thePalazzo Comunale.[9]
View of the town from the south
While the official patron isSaint Geminianus, the town also honoursSaint Fina, known also as Seraphina and Serafina, who was born in San Gimignano 1238 and whosefeast day is 12 March. TheChapel of Santa Fina in the Collegiate Church houses her shrine and frescos byGhirlandaio.[10] The house said to be her home still stands in the town.
On 8 May 1300, San Gimignano hostedDante Alighieri in his role as ambassador of the Guelph League in Tuscany.[8]
The city flourished until 1348, when it was struck by theBlack Death that affected all of Europe, and about half the townsfolk died.[9] The town submitted to the rule ofFlorence. Initially, some Gothic palazzi were built in the Florentine style, and many of the towers were reduced to the height of the houses.[9] There was little subsequent development, and San Gimignano remained preserved in its medieval state until the 19th century, when its status as a touristic and artistic resort began to be recognized.
The city is on the ridge of a hill, with its main axis being north/south. It is encircled by three walls and has at its highest point, to the west, the ruins of a fortress dismantled in the 16th century. There are eight entrances into the city, set into the second wall, which dates from the 12th and 13th centuries.[11][12] The main gates are Porta San Giovanni on the ridge extending south, Porta San Matteo to the north west and Porta S. Jacopo to the north east. The main streets are Via San Matteo and Via San Giovanni, which cross the city from north to south.At the heart of the town are four squares: the Piazza Duomo, on which stands the Collegiate Church; the Piazza della Cisterna, the Piazza Pecori and the Piazza delle Erbe. To the north of the town is another significant square, Piazza Agostino, on which stands the Church of Sant' Agostino. The locations of the Collegiate Church and Sant' Agostino's and their piazzas effectively divide the town into two regions.
The town of San Gimignano has many examples ofRomanesque andGothic architecture, which are distinguished from each other by their round and pointed arches, respectively. As well as churches and medieval fortifications, there are examples ofRomanesque secular and domestic architecture. A particular feature which is typical of the region of Siena is the depressed arches of openings, with doorways often having a second low arch set beneath a semi-circular or pointed arch. Both Romanesque and Gothic windows sometimes have a bifurcate form, with two openings divided by a stone mullion under a single arch.[13][14] A 1:100 recreation of the city in the 14th century is housed in theSanGimignano1300 museum.
This piazza, entered from Via San Giovanni, is the main square of the town. It was named after thecistern constructed in 1287. It was once used to host markets, most famously utilized by Picansichado Ghezzi. It also hosted recreational actives like tournaments and festivals. It is triangular in shape, and is surrounded by medieval houses of different dates, among them are some fine examples of Romanesque and Gothic palazzos. At the centre of the piazza stands a well which was the main source of water for the town's residents. The structure dates from 1346.[9] Although much of it has been renewed in the late 20th century, parts of the paving date from the 13th century.[9]
This piazza is to the north of Piazza della Cisterna, and is connected by a passage adjacent to an open loggia. To the west, at the top of the square, stands theCollegiate Church, reached by a broad flight of steps. The name of the square would seem to imply that this church was at one time a cathedral, but this is not the case. Other important buildings on the square include thePalazzo Comunale and the Palazzo Podesta, the house of the mayor. The Palazzo Podesta is distinguished by its huge arched loggia.
While in other cities, such asFlorence, most or all of their towers have been destroyed by wars, catastrophes, orurban renewal, San Gimignano has conserved the following 14 towers of varying heights, for which it is known internationally:
There are many churches in the town: the two main ones are theCollegiata, formerly a cathedral, andSant'Agostino, housing many artworks from earlyItalian renaissance artists.
M. C. Escher's 1923 woodcutSan Gimignano depicts the celebrated towers.
Marcel L'Herbier used San Gimignano as one of the main locations in his 1925 filmFeu Mathias Pascal. L'Herbier's love of architecture ensured that views of the towers and shots of various streets and piazze were heavily featured.
Tea with Mussolini, a 1999 drama about the plight of English and American expatriate women in Italy duringWorld War II, was filmed in part in San Gimignano. The frescoes that the women save from being destroyed during theGerman Army's withdrawal are inside the Duomo, the town's main church. The account of this episode is, to a large extent, fictional, because, although there are reports of intended retribution against the town,[18] there is no evidence of a plan to destroy the churches. However, the reference to risk of cultural destruction is historic, as the Allies bombed the area for ten days.[19]
In the 2005 novelThe Broker byJohn Grisham, Joel Backman takes his second of three wives on vacation in Italy to keep her from divorcing him. They rent a 14th-century monastery near San Gimignano for a month.
A 15th-century version of the town is featured in the 2009 video gameAssassin's Creed II.[20]
San Gimignano is headed by amayor (sindaco) assisted by a legislative body, theconsiglio comunale, and an executive body, thegiunta comunale. Since 1995 the mayor and members of theconsiglio comunale are directly elected together by resident citizens, while from 1945 to 1995 the mayor was chosen by the legislative body. Thegiunta comunale is chaired by the mayor, who appoints others members, calledassessori. The offices of thecomune are housed in a building usually called themunicipio orpalazzo comunale.
Since 1995 the mayor of San Gimignano is directly elected by citizens, originally every four, then every five years. The current mayor is Andrea Marrucci (PD), elected on 26 May 2019 with the 70.3% of the votes and re-elected on 9 June 2024 with 84.9% of the votes.
^The exact number is not a matter of agreement because many towers have been levelled to the same height as adjacent buildings. The number is given as "a dozen" (Strasser), 13 (Vantaggi) and 14 (UNESCO).
AA. VV.,Medieval Churches of the Val d'Elsa. The territories of the Via Francigena between Siena and San Gimignano, Empoli, dell'Acero Publishers, 1996.ISBN88-86975-08-2
Vantaggi, Rosella (1979).San Gimignano: Town of the Fine Towers. Plurigraf.
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