San Gimignano's centro storico is well-preserved and very much a tourist attraction.
It has intriguing pathways that connect adjacent streets.
The town is famous for its tall towers.
Here are views of the surrounding countryside from one of the towers. Alan took the photos. I'm afraid that my fear of heights got the better of me and I only managed to climb halfway up the tower's staircase before I had to crawl down again. It was a decent enough staircase, only recently installed, but the gaps between the steps meant the drop was always visible beneath by feet.
Our plan was to walk through this beautiful countryside as much as possible, but on our first full day in San Gimignano it rained heavily. We decided to take a bus trip to Siena and do some indoor tourist stuff. One thing I have noticed in rural Italy is the friendliness between the bus drivers and the local passengers. The bus driver never seems to be short of a conversation.
In Siena we visited the magnificent Duomo which was designed by Giovanni Pisano. Building commenced in 1215 and continued into the 1300s. Here is a view of the Duomo from a tower on top of the adjacent museum. I did manage to climb this tower. It was an old stone staircase, quite slippery and dangerous, but my fear never escalated - I had no idea how high I was until I reached the top.
A view of Siena in the other direction.
The Duomo has a beautiful inlaid marble floor that was installed in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries after the completion of the external structure. Sections of the floor were designed by 40 different artists. In the following design a she-wolf, the symbol of Siena, is surrounded by emblems that represent the confederate cities. I was particularly taken by the hare of Pisa.
Here is another part of the floor that I liked, though I don't know much about it.
And here is part of the pulpit which was designed by Nicola Pisaro.
These carvings, originally from the Duomo's exterior, are now in the museum.
The following two days in San Gimignano were much finer. We went for a couple of walks over the rolling hills.
San Gimignano's towers were visible from quite a distance.
To tell you the truth I found the hills very challenging. After one steady climb we came across a disused villa and pomegranate trees growing along the path. I really appreciated the sustenance.
The following photo shows where we stopped and ate the lunch on the second day: boiled eggs, oranges, almonds, walnuts, figs and dates. The sign on the left indicates one of the pathways of the Via Francigena, the medieval pilgrim route between Canterbury and Rome. We walked just a small part of it.
The walks we did only took 3 or 4 hours each. We also visited a couple of museums in San Gimignano including one that housed the remains of an apothecary. The dolphin in the following photo would have hung in the old apothecary shop. It symbolises good health.
We saw lots of frescoes in San Gimignano. In fact, I suffered a bit of fresco glut and was pleased to find a gallery of 20th C and contemporary art called Galleria Continua. This gallery presents the art of many famous names including Duchamp's 'Boîte in Valise' - a portable case that contains miniatures of all his key works.
Amongst the contemporary work I enjoyed a small series of thread drawings by Shilpa Gupta. They are very subtle works and difficult to photograph because the distortions in the paper cause shadows that are not meant to be so visible. This one is called 'Mango Tree'.
Two final photos for San Gimignano... first, the inevitable market. Compared to the trash and treasure markets in Rome, this one had reasonable clothing and good quality foodstuffs. I noticed that locals attended the market as much as tourists - a very sociable way to shop.
And here is a photo of one of the tiny 3-wheeled trucks that are quite common in San G.
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