San Gimignano - Day Tour from Florence

Thankfully the last stop for the day was San Gimignano and what a great last stop. It helped alleviate the disappointment from the wine tasting.

San Gimignano was amazing, and we wished we had longer to stay there. Situated on a hill in Tuscany, it is encircled by 13th century walls and known as the Town of Fine towers due to the preservation of about a dozen of its tower houses. The historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is known for saffron, the Golden Ham, and its white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano.

In the 3rd century BC a small Etruscan village stood on the site of San Gimignano and its history starts from there. Between 1199 and into the 1300s the peace of the town was disturbed for the next two centuries by conflict between the Guelphs ad the Ghibellines, the family rivalries within San Gimignano. This resulted in competing families building tower houses of increasingly higher and higher heights, in an effort to outdo each other. Towards the end of the Medieval period, there were 72 tower houses, up to 70 meters high.

While in other cities, most or all of their towers have been brought down by wars, catastrophes or urban renewal, San Gimignano has managed to conserve fourteen towers of varying heights, for which it is known internationally.

We were told by our guide to make sure we tried the gelato here as it is the world’s best gelato. And she wasn’t lying! In actual fact Gelateria Dondoli is the home of the world champion, master gelato maker, Sergio. There are in fact many competitions for gelato making - go figure. Sergio is famous for his unique and unusual flavour combinations and with this in mind, we headed to the ice cream shop to try this famous gelato. What we did not realise is that there was more than one ice cream shop in the piazza and we could not remember the name of the one we were meant to visit. Thankfully there was a sign saying world’s best ice cream so in we went and ordered from there. It was delicious but it wasn’t until we had finished our gelatos that we realised we had bought them from the wrong shop. Dondoli’s is known for its world-famous gelato, whereas where we bought ours from was known for its ice cream. And yes, there is a difference. It just means we will have to return to try the world-famous gelato next time.

Overall it was a great day seeing new places that we would not have seen otherwise but we were slightly disappointed with the time we had at each place, the arranged tours and the wine tasting were a huge disappointment. We did however love the towns we visited and can’t wait to visit them again to explore more. Italy has made its way into my heart.Read more