Hello properties hunters,
We are wring from Rolling Hills Italy, a real estate agency located in Tuscany and we know very well our territory, so we were wondering: “ why don’t we describe it to our clients who comes from all over the world?”.
That’s why we decided to give some advises in order not to visit mainstream cities.
At first, we would like to introduce you an outstanding Tuscan village: San Gimignano.
Even if it might seem strange, this village is not one of most famous in Tuscany. This enchanting place has some characteristics that will leave you totally speechless: the first one is, with no doubts its location; San Gimignano is located in one of the highest hills of Val d’ Elsa, that’s why here we can find a unique view, that it is maybe one of the best view of this area.
The second characteristics of San Gimignano is its history, in fact in this village the majority of the buildings were originally created during the Middle Age, and only few of this were restored. Because of its architecture San Gimignano was declared heritage for humanity UNESCO.
Maybe you are wandering: “ why should I visit a medieval village instead of going shopping in a big city like Milan?”
We have visited, as a real estate agency, many Tuscan villages and we have no doubt that places like San Gimignano are full of magic, and unique atmosphere, but obviously our opinion is not enough for you, so we will try to tell you through our experience what are the places that we recommend to you if you decide to visit San Gimignano:
1. The towers: San Gimignano is a village full of towers that are all wonderful, but the most suggestive and ancient are:
• The Salvucci towers, which are also called “the tween towers of San Gimignano”, these were built by one of the most rich and famous families during the Middle Age, the Salvuccis. This two towers are completely identical and they were very high (in the past these towers were higher than 50 meters) in order to prove the economic superiority of the Salvucci family in San Gimignano.
• The Big Tower is the highest tower in San Gimignano, it was built in honour of the visit of Dante Alighieri to the village, and it is completely open to the visitors. On the top of the tower there is a terrace from which you can fully appreciate the view of Val d’ Elsa.
• The tower of the Devil is one of the most famous towers in San Gimignano, in fact it appears in many films and videogames. The name of this tower is due to an old legend that says that the former owner came back to San Gimignano and he noticed that his tower was higher than before, so he thought that it was the Devil’s work.
2. The museums: many historical evidence of San Gimignano are preserved in suggestive museums, and the ones that we liked most were:
• The museum of torture that is one of the most suggestive places in in San Gimignano, here we can find many instruments of torture that were found in this village and that were used during the Middle Age. In order to fully appreciate the visit we recommend you to make a guided tour, so that you can discover more curiosities end details over the history of San Gimignano.
• The museum “San Gimignano 1300” is perfect for the most curious of you, because here you can find historical remains and also some recreations of the village during the Middle Age. Here you can learn some legends and old traditions of this beautiful territory.
3. The squares: as every historical town, in San Gimignano there are many beautiful and vibrant squares, today as yesterday the squares of this village represent one of the major meeting points for adults and kids. The most beautiful square, in our opinion, is piazza della cisterna, that is the one in which you can find the amazing Dome of San Gimignano, and it is one of the most large and meaningful square in this town.
Inevitably, everyone of us would like to brake the routine and the daily stress in order to move in this enchanting place, well what are you waiting for?
San Gimignano has an amazing location, it is only 40 minutes far from the historical cities of Siena, Volterra and it is one hour far from the coast.
Moreover San Gimignano is very easy to reach! The airports are very close, in particular the ones of Pisa (79km) and Florence (61km).