San Gimignano stands with the profile of its towers on a hill (m.334) domain of Val d'Elsa. Location of a small village of Etruscan Hellenistic period (III-II sec. BC) inziò its history around the tenth century, taking the name of the Holy Bishop of Modena: San Gimignano, which would have saved the village from the barbarian hordes. He had great development during the Middle Ages thanks to the Via Francigena who crossed. In fact, San Gimignano had an extraordinary flowering of art that adornarono churches and convents. In 1199 it became free, fought against the Bishops of Volterra and neighboring towns, suffered internal strife divided into two factions in the wake of Ardinghelli (Guelphs) and Salvucci (Ghibellines). The eight in May 1300 hosted Dante Alighieri, ambaciatore league Guelf in Tuscany. The terrible plague of 1348 and subsequent depopulation cast San Gimignano in a serious crisis. The town had therefore submit to Florence. Since degradation and abandonment of centuries after it came out only when we began to rediscover the beauty of the city, its cultural identity and the original farm.
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Artistic Routes
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The Cathedral or Collegiate Church, consecrated in 1148, structured around three aisles is enriched with valuable affereschi school Siena: Old and New Testament (Bartolo di Fredi and "Shop of Memmi"); Judgment (Taddeo di Bartolo), works for school fiorentina: Stories of Santa Fina (Ghirlandaio), San Sebastian (Benozzo Gozzoli), Statue Wood (Jacopo della Quercia) and sculptures and Benedict Giuliano da Maiano. All this makes the Collegiate San Gimignano a museum of great prestige.
Town Hall: Courtyard and Dante Hall with the Majesty of Lippo Memmi. Museum and Art Gallery with works by Filipino Lippi, Pinturicchio, Benozzo Gozzoli, Domenico di Michelino, Pier Francesco Fiorentino, Sebastiano Mainardi, of Nicholas Lorenzo di Martino, Coppo di Marcovaldo etc. Since museum you can visit the Torre Grossa or Podesta built in 1311 and high 54 meters.
Sacred Art Museum: Tele, tables and stone fragments from churches and convents deleted. Argenterie, choral and liturgical vestments.
Archaeological Museum archaeological Etruscan, Roman and Medieval from excavations and findings in comunale.Spezieria Santa Fina, material from Spezieria the Hospital of Santa Fina, which reproduces the old pharmacy, with the containers and glass ceramics and medicines . Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art "R. De Grada "important exhibition area of the city.
Church of Saint Augustine: Stories of St. Augustine (Benozzo Gozzoli) remains of fourteenth-century frescoes, tables and paintings by different authors (Benozzo Gozzoli, Piero del Pollaiolo, Pier Francesco Fiorentino, Vincent Tamagni, Sebastiano Mainardi). Chapel of St. Bartolo (Benedetto da Maiano).
Churches minors: Holy Bartolo, S. Jacopo, San Piero, St. Francis (remains), S. Lorenzo in Ponte.
And again:
Ornithological Museum.
Sources Medioeval
Rock of Montestaffoli.
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