SAN GIMIGNANO OF THE BEAUTIFUL TOWERS
SAN GIMIGNANO OF THE BEAUTIFUL TOWERS - The best known and most studied aspect of San Gimignano, its political structure, architecture and works of art are inseparably linked with the late Middle Ages, yet the town's origins are probably Etruscan. During the Roman period the town became known as Silvia, legend says that it was named after Silvius a Roman general. During them Middle Ages it acquired the name of San Gimignano in recognition of the Saint Bishop of Modena who, on being invokedby the local people is said to have liberated them from the assault of the barbarians.
The first written document preserved in the town's archives dates to the year 929 and consists of the donation of a place which is presently identified as the local penitentiary, made by Hugo, King of Provence and Italy to Abelard, Bishop of Volterra. The first churches were built in the settlement in 1056. To protect the enlarging settlement, a circuit of walls was built in 1236 and it housed nine gates. In 1300 San Gimignano received the visit of Dante Alighieri who had been sent as the Florentine's ambassador to plead for union. In the time San Gimignano transformed from an agricultural into a mercantile community displaying its wealth by constructing palazzi and towers, two hospitals, the Foundling's Hospital and the Pilgrim's Hospice, churches and convents. The town's decline began after an outbreak of plague in 1464 and then again in 1631. Throughout the years, the town's artistic heritage and its urban fabric have remained intact in their original form and walking through the gates one can really experience another time and space.