San Gimignano
Medieval village in the province of Siena with an unaltered charm. Known as "Manhattan of Middle Ages", due to the 72 towers that dot historic center, San Gimignano has been declared by UNESCO as a "World Heritage Site". Despite some nineteenth-century interventions, San Gimignano retains its intact thirteenth-century appearance, one of the best examples of municipal urban planning in Europe. Between towers and tower-houses, up to 1580 there were as many as 25. Today there remain 16, in addition to those "absorbed" by current urban fabric. The most ancient is Torre Rognosa, erected at the beginning of the XIII century; the highest is Torre Grossa, which with its 54 meters stands imposingly on Tuscan hills. The village is almost entirely contained in the thirteenth century walls. The main axes of the settlement are two: east-west, more ancient (10th century), which connected the hill to the ancient bishop's castle and to the market (today occupied by the fortress); north-south, from Porta San Giovanni to Porta San Matteo, which in Middle Ages crossed Via Francigena. At the intersection of the two lines are the city squares: Piazza del Duomo and Piazza della Cisterna. Piazza Pecori is, instead, the picturesque open space on the side of the collegiate church. Civic Museums network (Palazzo Comunale, Pinacoteca, Torre Grossa, Archaeological Museum, Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Spezieria Santa Fina, San Lorenzo in Ponte) offers a wide cultural selection of exhibitions and events in all seasons. San Gimignano is also famous for another record: Vernaccia, one of the finest wines of the world, was the first Italian wine to receive the Denomination of Controlled Origin (DOC) label in 1966.
