Tour San Gimignano: the city of towers in the middle of Val d’Elsa
San Gimignano is a picturesque little town on a hill at the top of Val d’Elsa, declared as a UNESCO site for its uniformity and architectural integrity, with 14 noble towers still intact to this day, that contribute to the conservation of the medieval atmosphere. t’s literally an open-air museum and a urbanistic gem, storing masterpieces of the Italian art dated between 14th and 15th century, preserved in the Collegiata, in the Town Hall and in other remarkable buildings.
In tour San Gimignano, we can then stop in one of the cellars and taste the popular Vernaccia, a local white DOCG wine, known and loved all over the world.
Along the via Francigena
By walking through the Val d’Elsa, along the footsteps of ancient travelers across the Francigena, not far from Siena we’ll find Monteriggioni, a medieval stronghold, enclosed in a practically intact fortress, mentioned by Dante in his Hell chapter of the Divine Comedy.
The little village of Abbadia Isola is also significant, it developed around a Benedictine abbey founded in 1001, of which the place name reminds of the marshy origine of the area.
Colle Val d'Elsa city of crystal
You can then get to Colle Val d’Elsa, popular for being the hometown of the architect and sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio. The little town is distributed on various altimetric levels and offers the experience of a blast from the past, due to the presence of well preserved examples of tower-houses, medieval and Renaissance buildings. Thanks to the presence of the Elsa river and of a complex network of mills, among centuries this place has represented an important development pole for trade and handicraft, and it’s popular for its glasswares, to this day open to visitors.