Cinque Fotografie-Tuscany Day 6

Today Jim C, his sisters, and I spent time in San Gimignano, the 13th century walled town that watches over us. This beautiful town is dubbed "San Gimignano delle belle torri " (of the beautiful towers) with good reason. The towers are among the most striking feature of the town, and it enhances the frozen in time Medieval feel of the city.

In our previous visits this week, we has mostly sampled the food, wine and gelato. Today we thought that we would get a sense of the many shops as well as the art and history of the city.

After admiring the architecture of the city we took time for a light lunch and watched the influx of tourists arriving by tour bus. After lunch, Nancy and Sharon decided to check out the various boutiques, and Jim C and I purchased tickets for the art museum and Duomo. Included in the purchase price was access to the tallest tower in the town, Torro Rossa.

We learned that at San Gimignano boasted seventy-two towers at its peak. Our assumption was this to serve as watchtowers to guard the city. Instead the tower building was initiated by two rival families in competition with each other, and the practice was adopted by other wealthy patriarchs determined to model the ageless demonstration of male prowess in the "whose is biggest" game.

The times of the Great Plague witnessed a deterioration of the number of towers and the numbers have dwindled to sixteen today.

When we entered the art museum, we saw the entry to the Torro Rossa, and I entertained the notion of going to the tower. At first the steps were stone, but eventually there was a metal stairway that you could see down below between the steps, and that ended my delusion of continuing up the tower. Jim C and I came up with a Plan B: we would tour the art exhibits together, and then we would go our separate ways with Jim C going up the tower and I would visit the Duomo otherwise known as Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunto.

There were many beautiful pieces in the art museum. Most depicted Biblical events and a number were painted on wood. One of the pieces of the Virgin Mary reminded us of many of the portrayals of children who look like old men. I labeled this work as Jesus and Benjamin Button.

I thought that I might grow weary of visiting yet another church, but I do find them peaceful and beautiful. Today was no exception, and I learned about St. Fina, the child saint and local pride and joy of the community. St Fina's remains are buried in one of the side altars, and I read a pamphlet of her story. When she was ten , St. Fina experienced an illness that rendered her legs useless (polio?) at the age of ten and she was confined to a wooden pallet for the remaining five years of her brief life. St. Fina is credited with many healing of visitors and for the demonstration of grace despite her severe impairment. The legend is the a special violet grew on her pallet and also appeared throughout the towers of the city.

The duomo has many brilliant frescoes depicting the passion of Christ and scenes from the Old Testament.

When, I rejoined Jim and his sisters, Jim recounted his trip up Torro Rossa where the last part of the journey to the overlook was a metal ladder. I attribute my avoidance of this experience as Divine Intervention, and I'm happy to give credit to St. Fina for missing yet another "Oh Hell, No" experiences.

We concluded our time in San Gimignano with some incredible gelato, and then we headed back to our agritururismo. Once again, we enjoyed pool and nap time, and yet again another fine dinner on the terrace. I'm grateful for another beautiful day in San Gimignano. It's definitely a jewel in the many treasures of Tuscany. Buona Notte!Read more