San Gimignano, Italy

We entered San Gimignano, a Medieval walled city famous for it’s towers, through the Porta San Giovanni.  The city was quite easy to navigate.  It was market day and there were aisles of vendor carts and umbrellas end to end covering two piazzas.  So many that we couldn’t see the cistern in the center of the Piazza of the Cistern or “Piazza della Cisterna“.

If you are interested in tasting wild boar or “cinghiale”, this is the place.  Almost all the local stores have full size stuffed wild boar greeting you as you enter and numerous cured pieces of wild boar for sale.  We were told that wild boar roamed the countryside at night but we didn’t catch a glimpse of even one.

There are fourteen towers of varying heights remaining of  the original 72. My friend Elaine and I found “Torre Salvucci”, the only tower open to the public on the day we visited.  We walked the 160 steps up the staircase which wound it’s way through ten floors.  Each floor had a different living space from a kitchen to bedrooms and sitting rooms and even a full bathroom. Yes, each floor was one room.  At the very top, the guide opened the rolling gate to reveal a terrace with a fabulous panoramic view.  Definitely worth the climb!

As an American who saw the Twin Towers being built  in New York in 1973, I couldn’t help but think of them during my visit to San Gimignano.  Our Twin Towers will always remain in our memories.

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