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Ten things to know about San Gimignano … and to see from your San Gimignano hotel:

1 The towers of course. Fourteen remain of the original 72 towers, erected by competing Guelph and Ghibelline factions in the town in the early Middle Ages.
2 The Palazzo Comunale, home to the town art gallery, with works by Pinturicchio, Domenico di Michelino, Benozzo Gozzoli, Filippino Lippi, Pier Francesco Fiorentino and others. Take a San Gimignano hotel in the heart of this little city, and the sights are on your doorstep.
3 The four squares that comprise the heart of the town: the Piazza della Cisterna, Piazza Duomo (home to the Collegiata), Piazza Pecori, and Piazza delle Erbe. The main streets are Via San Giovanni and Via San Matteo.
4 The Collegiata di San Gimignano. The town’s main church, once the Duomo but downgraded to a collegiate church now that San Gimignano no longer has a bishop. Built in the 12th century on an earlier church. Superb Romanesque interior with lavish frescoes, particularly of San Sebastian, by Benozzo Gozzoli (1465), also work by Bartolo di Fredi and Lippo Memmi, and magnificent frescoes in the Cappella di Santa Fina by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Get a good guidebook … the staff at the front desk of your San Gimignano hotel should be happy to help out.
5 Church of Sant’Agostino, second in size to the Collegiata, and with a fresco cycle on The Life of St Augustine by Benozzo Gozzoli. The altar in the chapel is by Benedetto da Maiano.
6 Read up on the history. San Gimignano is very ancient, founded by the Etruscans in the third century BC. It got its name in the tenth century from Bishop St Geminianus, who had defended San Gimignano against Attila the Hun. It thrived until 1348, when the plague decimated the population. San Gimignano then became a backwater until it became fashionable in the 19th century. See point 10!
7 Taste the famous white wine of San Gimignano, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, made from grapes grown in the fields around.
8 The Via Francigena: the medieval pilgrims’ route, part of the larger route from Canterbury to Rome. San Gimignano thus became a stopping off point for pilgrims and is to this day.
9 The defensive walls, with the portal of San Matteo (a town gate) and massive bastions.
10 The town itself! Simply wander and wonder. This beautiful little city was fictionaiised as Monteriano in Where Angels Fear To Tread by EM Forster … take a copy of the book too. Part of ‘Tea with Mussolini’ was filmed here also. You’ll find this an easily manageable little city … most sights are in reach of any San Gimignano hotel.

Find a San Gimignano hotel here.