Property for sale in Tuscany

Description

San Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill-top town, about a 35 minute drive north-west of Siena, mainly famous for its medieval architecture. Wealthy families of the town competed in the erection of high towers, that served as lodgings, fortresses and prestige symbols. While in other cities like Bologna or Florence, most or all of the towers have been brought down due to wars, catastrophes or urban renewal, San Gimignano managed to conserve about 50 towers of varying height, while the modern town has extended some kilometres out.

In the piazza de Duomo there is the Gothic Palazzo del Popolo which was erected in 1288-1323 on a design by Arnolfo di Cambio. The adjacentTorre Grossa built in 1310, is the tallest of them all (some 53 m.) and the only one that can be ascended, rewarding the adventurous with a grand vista. The Palazzo also houses the Civic Museum which displays amongst others, important works by Filippo Lippi and Benozzo Gozzoli.

San Gimignano was also home of the oldest hospitals in the world. At Una Farmacia Preindustriale in Val d'Elsa (A Pre-Industrial Pharmacy in the Elsa valley), situated in the church of S. Lorenzo in via del Castello below piazza della Cisterna, one can examine the pharmaceutical instruments and medicinal jugs of the Hospital and Pharmacy of Santa Fina (1253).

The town, also known for the white wine grown in the area, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Province

Siena (SI)

The picturesque city is an important cultural centre and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is especially known for its celebrated Palio delle contrade, a horse race held twice a year, in which each horse and rider represent one of the seventeen contrade.
Siena's university, founded in 1203 and famed for its faculties of law and medicine, is still among the most important Italian universities. Siena is also the home of Siena Jazz School, which hosts the summer Jazz Concert.

According to legend, Siena was founded by Senius, son of Remus, who was in turn the brother of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Statues and other artwork depicting a she-wolf suckling the young twins Romulus and Remus can be seen all over the city of Siena.
Siena was an Etruscan settlement and a small Roman town, the seat of a Christian bishop by the 5th century, but its importance began in the early 12th century, when a self-governing commune replaced the earlier aristocratic government.
Siena's republic, struggling internally between nobles and the popular party, usually worked in political opposition to its great rival, Florence, and was in the 13th century predominantly Ghibelline in opposition to Florence's Guelph position.
Siena rivalled Florence in the arts through the 13th and 14th centuries: the important late medieval painter Duccio (1253–1319) was a Senese but worked across the peninsula. Siena was devastated by the Black Plague of 1348 and never recovered its earlier glory, losing out to Florence in inter-urban rivalry. Siena retained its independence in Tuscany until 1557.

Siena's cathedral, the Duomo, begun in the 12th century, is one of the great examples of Italian gothic architecture. Its main facade was completed in 1380. Its campanile and baptistry make a fine group. Inside is the famous Gothic octagonal pulpit by Nicola Pisano (1266–1268) supported on lions, and the labyrinth inlaid in the flooring, traversed by penitents on their knees. Beneath the Duomo, in the baptistry is the baptismala marvellous font with bas-reliefs by Donatello, Ghiberti, Jacopo della Quercia and other 15th-century sculptors. The Museum of the Opera del Duomo contains Duccio's famous Madonna (1308–1311).

The shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, the town main square, which houses the Palazzo Pubblico, and the Torre del Mangia, is famous for hosting the Palio.

The Palazzo Pubblico (townhall), hosting the mural of "Good Government" by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, a magnificent example of late-Medieval/early Renaissance art as well as a representation of the utopia of urban society as conceived during that period.

Region

Tuscany (click to read more from our website)

Local Facilities

Exceptional selection of amenities, shops, restaurants.

Tourist Attractions

The Cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin, was originally built in a Romanesque style with a plain façade in 1239 rising above a tall external staircase. It contains frescoes of the 14-15 centuries.

The Palazzo del Podestà, opposite the cathedral, with its ochre brick built tower. high, is also known as Rognosa (the scabby one) and was built in 1239. On the ground floor there is an open loggia with beautiful stone seats for the members of the town council.

The Piazza della Cisterna is surrounded by palazzi, towers and family houses of the 13-14 centuries, is name after the well with an exagonal base which dates from the 1346. The piazza is particularly fascinating at night.

The picturesque S. Matteo street with its medieval buildings and towers runs from the cathedral piazza to the Porta (gate) S. Matteo, built in the Sienese style in the 13th century.

The church of S. Agostino, with its single-aisle, three apses, a slender campanile and an open roof truss, was built in Romanesque-early Gothic style from 1280-98. Benozzo Gozzoli painted many of the frescoes including the famous 17 scenes from the life of St. Augustine.

San Gimignano was also home of the oldest hospitals in the world. At Una Farmacia Preindustriale in Val d'Elsa (A Pre-Industrial Pharmacy in the Elsa valley), situated in the church of S. Lorenzo in via del Castello below piazza della Cisterna, one can examine the pharmaceutical instruments and medicinal jugs of the Hospital and Pharmacy of Santa Fina (1253).

The macabre is also on show at the Torture museum, with a display of instruments and devices for torture in various times and places, complete with multi-lingual descriptions of their use

Transport

Fontanelle – Donoratico (sea): 70 Km
(from Volterra)

Fontanelle – Firenze: 50 Km
(from Poggibonsi)

Fontanelle – Siena: 30 Km
(from Colle di Val d’Elsa)

Fontanelle – Volterra: 20 Km
(from Castel San Gimignano)

Fontanelle – San Gimignano: 5 Km

Airports

Pisa 80 km, Rome 270 km.

Altitude

334

Population

7,000

Directions

Fontanelle – Roma: 270 Km
(A1 motorway: Val di Chiana exit > dual-carriageway towards Siena > dual-carriageway Siena-Firenze: Colle Val d’Elsa exit > follow signs to San Gimignano).

Fontanelle – Milano: 350 Km
(A1 motorway: Firenze Certosa exit > dual-carriageway Firenze–Siena: Poggibonsi Nord exit > follow signs to San Gimignano).

Fontanelle – Pisa: 80 Km
(Castel San Gimignano > Volterra > Capannoli > Colle Salvetti > Pisa)

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