DATE
01 JAN - 31 DEC
TIME
Full Day
PRICE - € 290
SIENA CLASSIC + SAN GIMIGNANO
The morning is dedicated to visiting Siena (see Siena Classic Tour). Free time for lunch and for driving to San Gimignano (the guide does not provide transportation service). We will meet again in San Gimignano in the afternoon, where the tour will continue. We will start from Porta San Giovanni and we will walk up to me main square Piazza del Duomo, where the most important buildings stand. We will also see Piazza della Cisterna and the Fortress, from the top of which you can enjoy one of the best views of the town. Our tour will end with a tasting of Vernaccia di San Gimignano wine and local cold cuts.
We recommend a visit to the Duomo or the City Hall (entrance fee not included).
San Gimigano is a medieval town and it’s one of the best examples of urban organization in Europe from that period, this is why it has been listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO
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PROGRAMMA
SAN DOMENICO (SIENA CLASSIC)
It was built in the early 13th century but it has undergone many changes over the centuries, following numerous fires and the earthquake of 1798, which led to the bell tower to be shortened. It’s a single nave Church because the Dominican order preferred large open spaces for preaching their flock. This church is not only important from an artistic point of view but also from a religious one, because it has been home to one of the Siena’s most venerated relics: the head of Saint Catherine, kept inside a chapel decorated by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, known as Sodoma, in the early 15th century. Inside the Church is also possible to see the only portrait of Saint Catherine, as it was painted while she was still alive.
PIAZZA SALIMBENI (SIENA CLASSIC)
This square is named after the Salimbeni family, very rich and powerful in Siena back in the Middle Ages, and the big stone building at the center was originally their residence. Today this is the headquarter of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Bank, founded in 1472. It’s the oldest active bank in the world.
PIAZZA DEL CAMPO (SIENA CLASSIC)
It is the Siena’s main square; it is characterized by a very unusual shell form, the paving is made of bricks and divided into 9 sections in order to represent the government of the Nine Lords which ruled Siena between the end of the 13th century and the mid 14th century, Siena’s most illustrious years. The most important building is the City Hall, built in the Middle Ages to house the city government, this is still its function today. The tower is one of the highest in Italy and is called Torre del Mangia.
Piazza del Campo is also the square in which the famous Palio horse race takes place twice a year, every July 2nd and August 16th .
DUOMO (SIENA CLASSIC)
The Duomo is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it was built at top of the highest hill back in the Middle Ages. It wasn’t all built at the same time as it’s the result of centuries of works. The church is entirely covered with colored marble and the façade is decorated with statues depicting sibyls, prophets and evangelists. The interior contains works of art made by some of the most important masters in the history of European art, such as Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, Donatello, Michelangelo, Bernini and Pinturicchio. An absolute masterpiece is the Cathedral's grandiose marble inlay floor, which is unique both in terms of the technique used to make it and in terms of the message enshrined in its figured panel.
MUSEO CIVICO (PALAZZO PUBBLICO)
UPDATING
SAN GIMIGNANO
ST. JOHN’S GATE
This is one of the five gates left around the medieval city walls of San Gimignano. At the top we can still see the gatehouse used by the night watchmen. On the left hand side there’s the small bell tower of a church (Madonna dei Lumi) although there’s not much left of it today.
PIAZZA CISTERNA
In the middle there’s an octagonal travertine well that gives the current name to the square. The houses and the towers, originally belonged to the noble families, stand all around the square. The square was located at the intersection of the two main roads of the medieval village, the Via Francigena (north-south) and the Pisa-Siena road (east-west); it was the focal point of the city life and the place where the market was held.
PIAZZA DEL DUOMO
It is the main square, both the political and the religious center of the town. On the left you can see the City Hall, built to house the government back in the Middle Ages. Its bell tower, known as Torre Grossa (“Big Tower”), is the highest of the town. The building stands next to the staircase leading to the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta, very simple outside but very ornate inside, with many frescoes and other interesting masterpieces.
FORTRESS
The Fortress is located at top of the hill and it was built in the mid 13 hundreds by the florentines, when the town submitted to Florence, to protect themselves from possible attacks by Siena or from internal riots that could arise inside the town itself. It has a pentagonal base with towers on each corner; today only one of these towers is still safe and open to visitors and it offers a breathtaking view of the old town and the surrounding countryside
INFO / BOOK
€ 290