San Jimmy G

Before visiting San Gimignano, what I knew about the town was basically: looks nice, on a hill, lots of towers. After visiting, I can say: looks nice, on a hill, lots of towers, lots of tourists, great cathedral. After doing a little research right this second, I can add: it's been a World Heritage Site since 1990, it used to have 72 towers at its height, but now only has 14. Same reason as Bologna, wealthy families competing to have the best and highest towers until eventually the city council put a stop to it. But why was this small town wealthy and important enough to support 72 rich, tower-crazed families?

The town was named after St Geminianus of Modena, who persuaded followers of Attila the Hun to spare the city's castle from destruction in 450 AD. It became a stopping point on the pilgrimage to Rome and on agricultural trade, particularly in saffron and wine. Its growth was halted by the Black Death, which killed about half its population, and it came under Florentine domination and subsequently declined. This, similar to the changing financial fortunes of Bruges, helped to preserve it in time as a charming medieval town and therefore a tourist honeypot.

On the busy main street

I noted on my itinerary that the Duomo (it's actually the "Collegiate Church", for the record) had "pretty frescoes", but I don't think I had seen any pictures of the interior before our visit. It is stunning, and would be enough to warrant a visit even without the medieval streets and towers. The 14th century frescoes are divided into tales from the New and Old Testaments, recounting key bible stories to illiterate churchgoers. We got an audioguide with our ticket which, albeit narrated by a very boring and longwinded man, had a lot of good details which really helped to focus and take in all the different scenes.

Grumpy because I had to wear a cape of shame to cover up my sinful shoulders

Worth the shame cape

Job's house collapses in an earthquake - in the Bible it was caused by "a mighty wind", but apparently earthquakes struck more of a chord in this region

The Last Judgement

The New Testament frescoes

Old Testament frescoes with animals and the creation of Eve

More trouble for poor old Job

Post-duomo, we had a fairly dry and disappointing porchetta sandwich (the Italians do many culinary things well, but I still maintain that when it comes to baking - sweet and savoury - the French clearly have the edge) and then walked up to the Rocca di Montestaffoli to get some views of the city, passing a Dante on the way (dressed like the poet and reciting the Inferno in Italian from memory - or at least that's what he purported to be doing, could have been reading a soup recipe for all I know)

While we snapped some pretty photos in this part of the city, I knew I'd seen photos online that showed the whole skyline from a distance. I thought maybe we'd have to drive far out of the city to get a good perspective, but after a bit of googling, I discovered you could walk out of the south gate and on to the Via Vecchia per Poggibonsi and get the shot from there. That meant a little bit of an uphill climb on the way back, but luckily there was a gelato stop just inside the city walls.