| According to the legend, between ‘400 and ‘500 A.D the bishop of Modena,
San Gimignano was in the ancient feudal Castle besieged by the Goths and in order to save the country,
he caused a heavy fog. The Barbarians gave up the siege and the inhabitants, grateful for the rescue,
changed the name of the town. |
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| The most representative buildings of the town face Piazza della Cisterna and Piazza del Duomo:
the palace of Podestà (1239) overhung by the mighty tower “Rognosa” (
which could not be overcome in height by any town tower by law) the palace of the People
(1288, extended in 1323) and the romantic “Collegiata” which contains the Renaissance chapel of Santa Fina frescoed (1475)
by Domenico Ghirlandaio, splendour of the town. |
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In 1282 a law was promulgated in San Gimignano, which did not prohibit the demolition of the
houses but to built more beautiful ones. Most of its famous towers, which show the wealth of the
local mercantile class at the time of the greatest splendour of the town, date from that age: they were 72 originally,
twenty-five at the end of 1500. Today 13 are intact, 7 of which around the main square, the Piazza della Cisterna;
together with the walls of ‘200 and the united centre of palaces and churches, they represent an unrepeatable image of Medieval village. |
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Today San Gimignano is a tourist reality known all over the world.
Valuable resource of this place is the Vernaccia, ancient and genuine taste wine apart from the famous production of saffron,
which had also been exported to France and the Low Countries since the most ancient times. |
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