Today we explored the wine country of Chianti. After breakfast, we headed first to San Gimignano, the city with 14 stone towers. The distance was only about 12 miles, but it took about 45 minutes to get there on our bus. Another Tuscan hill town, San Gimignano is known as the “Medieval Manhattan” and is a UNESCO site. Of the once 72 towers from the 14th century, 14 remain today. Archeologists have found Etruscan relics dating the start of the town to around the 3rd century BCE. After the Etruscans, the Romans came, and the town was known as Seminarian. In the 5th century, its name was changed to San Gimignano after Bishop Geminianus, the Saint of Modena, who was said to have spared the settlement from the Huns. In the 11th century, it became a trading hub, because pilgrims on the Via Francigena passed through. By the 14th century it was under the control of Florence and declined. Revival of the town began in the 18th century due to Italian reforms. Today it is a thriving tourist, cheese, and wine center.
As we entered the city, we passed through the stone gate—Porta San Giovanni—dating from 1262. San Gimignano is an extraordinary example of medieval town planning. We strolled along the streets throughanother archway Arco dei Becci e Cugnanesi to the Piazza della Cisterna, the most beautiful square of the town. All roads lead to this central piazza. It is surrounded by ancient buildings that are still used. One is the Torre del Diavolo which now houses a museum of torture. In the middle there is an octagonal well that gave the name to the square. The well was built in 1273 and enlarged in 1346 by Podestà Guccio dei Malavolti, whose coat of arms – a ladder – is engraved on the stone walls of the well. Originally its name was Piazza delle Taverne, then Piazza dell’ Olmo, because of the huge elm tree that dominated the square. However, Piazza della Cisterna recalls an older time and its original use. Interestingly, it is shaped like a triangle rather than a square.
Then we went on to the Piazza del Duomo, the heart of San Gimignano. Three important medieval buildings face one another here: On the north side, facing the Piazza della Erbe, are the Torri Gemelle dei Salvucci, the Twin Towers. To the left of the Duomo is the Palazzo Nuovo del Potestà with the Loggia del Comune (Palazzo Comuale) on one side and the massive Torre Grossa, the tallest building in San Gimignano at 177 feet, dating from 1300, on the other. The Palazzo Comunale is the Town Hall and has housed the Civic Museum since 1852.
The most imposing building on the Piazza is the Collegiata or Duomo; it is at the center, sitting on high atop a stairway. The full name is the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta, and it has been there since the 11th century. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site of the “Historic Center of San Gimignano, partly because of its frescos. As you enter the nave, you see frescos on the left telling the stories of the Old Testament, and on the right portraying the New Testament. It was dedicated to St Geminianus and relics of him are in the church. One of the chapels, The Cappella de Santa Fina is a beautiful Renaissance chapel dedicated to a young girl who is regarded as a saint in San Gimignano. Fina developed a paralytic illness as a young girl and spent the rest of her life lying on a wooden pallet. According to tradition, St. Gregory the Great appeared to her to predict her death and before she died, she healed two people. Also, yellow violas reportedly blossomed from the pallet when she died. The flowers have become a symbol of the town.
Next, we toured the Civic Museum and the Museo Civici, which is a complex made up of the Palazzo Comunale and the Torre Grossa. The palazzo Comunale contains a room that still preserves the 14thcentury frescoes by Memmo di Filipuccio and Azzo di Masetto. The second-floor houses works by Lippo Memmi and masterpieces by Sienese and Florentine painters from the 13th to the 15th century, such as Filippino Lippi, Benozzo Gozzoli, Benedetto da Maiano, and Pinturicchio.
Our final destination here was the Museo Archeologico which documents the origins of the city. Part of it, the Spezieria di Santa Fina, has pharmacy vases that still hold medicinal preparations from the 14th century.
Castellina
From San Gimignano, we journeyed along the Chianti Road to Il Fondaccio Dottori, a restaurant in Castellina for a wonderful lunch. Again, there was so much food we couldn’t begin to eat it all. We sat at a long table overlooking the picturesque views of the Tuscan countryside with its vineyards and rolling hills.
Castellina is a medieval town in Chianti with a castle and typical narrow streets. The Via della Volte is a cobblestone walkway running underneath the town walls. It is flanked by stone buildings housing small shops with flowers, crafts, and delicacies.
After lunch, it was off to Castello di Monsanto for a tour of the winery and wine tasting. The soil in the area is full of fossils, which makes it perfect for growing the Chianti grape. Etruscan paintings and pottery suggest that these original settlers were the first to domesticate the grape vines growing wild across the sunny, rolling hills. References to the high quality of Tuscan wines date from Greek writers of the third century B.C.E. This winery has the largest reserve of Chianti Classico in the region. It is a family winery. We walked through the vaults where the wine is aged and learned the process. The patriarch stores 100 bottles of Chianti Classico for each grandchild when they are born to receive when they turn 18. The name and date of birth are on the grille. The grounds are lovely, and everyone thought it would be a great wedding venue. We tasted five different wines they produce. Then it was “home” to Colle de Val d’Elsa.
Next will be Firenze (Florence).
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