San Gimignano is a walled medieval city located in Tuscany which sits on a hill more than 300 meters above sea level. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and its early walls date back to the year 998! Whoa….
San Gimignano is known for-
- its white wine called Vernaccia di San Gimignano
- the birthplace of 13th century Italian Saint Fina (Seraphina)
- its 14 towers of varying heights. It is sometimes referred to as the “medieval Manhattan” because it used to have 72 watch towers along the defense wall. But with all the wars in the past centuries, only 14 remain standing. Most of the towers were built by wealthy families then to signify their power which means San Gimignano had a lot of wealthy residents.
San Gimignano has also been featured in several novels and movies, the latest of which was Juliet Binoche’s Copie Conforme (Certified Copy) where Binoche won a Best Actress Award at Cannes. I haven’t watched the film yet but I saw it on the plane’s movie menu. I ended up watching Inception and Social Network though. :)
Gourmet shops sell local delicacies like wild boar and wild boar sausage. It’s been said that boars there eat mostly berries and sometimes grapes (if they get a chance to sneak into vineyards) that’s why their meat is tender with a delicious earthy taste if cooked well.
Tourists flock to the wishing well located at the center of the busy piazza.
This is the San Gimignano Church which dates back to 1148. Entrance fees are imposed in most of the churches in Italy for their upkeep. Usually, tickets are at 3 to 4 euros each (Php180 to 240).
Before we left the medieval town, I had to line up to taste its world-renowned gelato. Ok, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Gelato World Champion! Haha… But as you can see in the photo, this one was the the Gelato World Champion in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009. I had dark chocolate (my favorite) and saffron cream (I didn’t know that there was such flavor so I had to try it! haha…) A scoop of gelato starts from 2.50 euros (about Php150).
Our tour guide said real gelato is extra soft. She said if you see gelato adorned with fruits, that isn’t the best gelato because fruits won’t stick easily given the texture of real gelato.
She also said that the color is different – for instance, the banana flavor of the best gelato is gray, not yellow.
Lastly, she said that no one can replicate Italian gelato even if you follow the same recipe because the secret lies in the cow’s milk and it has something to do with the conditions of raising cows in Italy including food and weather. Oh well, whether authentic or not, all forms of ice cream are all yummy to me! Haha…
She also said that the color is different – for instance, the banana flavor of the best gelato is gray, not yellow.
Lastly, she said that no one can replicate Italian gelato even if you follow the same recipe because the secret lies in the cow’s milk and it has something to do with the conditions of raising cows in Italy including food and weather. Oh well, whether authentic or not, all forms of ice cream are all yummy to me! Haha…
*******************
This is part of a Tuscany Daytour package which we booked via Italia Tours. The escorted tour costs USD113/pax which includes transportation and lunch. The tour departs at the Sta Maria Novella station in Florence daily at 630am. Itinerary covers Chianti, the walled cities of San Gimignano and Siena, and Pisa.
