Property for sale in San Gimignano .

If you are looking for a property for sale in San Gimignano, please read the following area guide

San Gimignano is a tourist magnet. Come in winter or early spring to indulge your imagination a little; in summer you’ll spend your time dodging fellow visitors. Even then, though, you’ll discover a different, almost peaceful San Gimignano once the last bus has pulled out. There’s good reason for such popularity. The towers, which once numbered 72, were symbols of the power and wealth of the city’s medieval families. San Gimignano delle Belle Torri (meaning ‘of the Fine Towers’ – though they’re actually almost devoid of design and rather dull unless sheer height impresses you) is surrounded by lush, productive land and the setting is altogether enchanting.

The principal museum is the combined attraction of the Palazzo Comunale, Pinacoteca and Torre Grossa - Town Hall, Art Gallery and Great Tower In Piazza del Duomo, this historic building houses a few interesting paintings, including some rather fun frescoes of knights jousting and Charles of Anjou chatting to his falconers. The most impressive experience, though, is provided by the tower, unobtrusively signposted off a museum stairway. The tallest tower in town at 54m, it has been gutted inside, and the stairs are a modern structure. Visitors should note that it's a stiff climb, and the very top section involves clambering up a ladder (mind your head at the top – you have to duck under the framework surrounding a monster bell). The views are splendid in every direction: lovely Tuscan hills, dotted with villages, villas and groves of trees.

The Rocca, a ruined fortress on the highest part of the hill, is surrounded by green parks and olive groves where you can sit and admire the Tuscan panorama, while munching on a panino made up in one of the town's many shops. Alongside the Rocca is a charming little terrace where civilised foreigners sit sipping wine outside the Museo del Vino. This Museum of Wine is small, and of limited interest if you don't understand Italian, but the adjacent shop/bar, where you can discuss and buy bottles of local vintages, or enjoy wine by the glass, is an ideal stop on a sightseeing tour. The local wine is a white called Vernaccia di San Gimignano, and was a popular choice in Renaissance Florence.

or collegiate church, is an imposing Romanesque building, simple outside and striped inside, decorated by bold frescoes. Among the artists commissioned to decorate the walls were Taddeo di Bartolo, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Benozzo Gozzoli.

San Gimignano also has a Museo Archeologico where the town's archaeological collection is displayed. Exhibits date from the Bronze Age onwards, and include Etruscan artefacts, funerary urns, and glassware and ceramics from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. There is also the modern art gallery (Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea) on the floor above, which exhibits works from the nineteenth century to the present day.

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