San Gimignano 23-24 April 2023
dear travel diary...
Getting to San Gimignano was a bit of a mission. The train to the nearest town Poggiabonsi was on time but we arrived to discover that our concierge in Siena had misinformed us about the bus times. Sunday is not a good day for busses in Italy, especially in rural areas and we were not overjoyed to discover that we would have to wait nearly four hours four the next bus to San Gimignano. At 3 pm all the restaurants were shutting and we eventually found a cafe which was open. It turned out this was where all of the loners in Poggibonsi went to pass away the long hours on a boring Sunday. Some looked lost and some were obviously quietly inebriated. A young man in his mid twenties looked dead as he slumped in a chair but he roused himself after an hour or so. Finally our bus came and we reached San Gimignano
Our living room is at the top of the Palazzo between the twin towers seen above. We have a lift to get to the top of the tower on the left.
Our tower is actually part one of a pair referred to as the twin towers and we are staying in the Palazzo between the towers. The ban on building towers higher than the Podesta's Rognosa Tower was not received well by the Salvucci family who were Ghibelline and therefore supporters of the Pope rather than the Holy Roman Emperor. They decided that they would built two towers which could, theoretically be stacked one on top of the other. their combined height would theoretically exceed the limit imposed.
San Gimignano began as an important stopping point on the Via Francigena, the pilgrimage route between France and Rome. The town became independent in 1199 and for the next 200 years was ruled by noble families and middle-class merchants. To display their wealth and power families went on a building spree in the second half of the 12th Century and built over 70 towers. Only 13 survive today and we are staying in one of them, the Torre Salvucci. The towers are a result of inter family rivalry and the warring factions of the Guelphs and Ghibellines trying to outdo each other in prestige. Eventually the rivalry got out of hand when a 70 metre tower was built. The council called a halt and ordained that no tower could be higher that of the 'Podesta' or ruling magistrate of the town. The rivalry got out of hand in more sinister ways. In 1252 street fighting erupted between the factions and a massacre of Guelphs took place.
At its height, the city had 13,000 inhabitants and wealth was derived from saffron, Vernaccia wine and wool. In the middle of the 14th Century, famine and plague drastically reduced the population and the town went into decline. Depopulation and submission to Florence in 1348 meant that San Gimignano became a bit of a backwater. After the plague of 1631 there were fewer than 3000 inhabitants left. This actually turned out to be a stroke of luck for the preservation of the buildings as nobody, but nobody, was interested in developing the town which resulted in the preservation of this remarkable place.
Getting to the top of the tower
A tiny lift takes us to the top on a very windy day! Note at the beginning Gill asks me if the wine has a screw top....
Was our tower in San Gimignano the inspitaion for the world trade centre?
Photo: Charles Moretz Jr.
Architects of iconic buildings are unfortunate in that their names are often unknown or forgotten while their work is instantly recognisable. Could you name the architect of the Sydney Opera House or the World Trade Centre? The latter was designed by the son of Japanese immigrants to the USA, Minoru Yamasaki. There has been much speculation that the twin Salvucci towers were the inspiration for his design. I could find no evidence that this was the case but a visit to Italy by Yamasaki certainly had a significant influence on his work. We know that he visited Venice and Rome and the influence of the Doge's Palace can be soon both in the design of the Seattle Science Pavilion and details of the World Trade Centre. It is tantalising to think we might be staying in a tower that inspired the tallest building in the world when it was completed.
The most complicated election ever?
The rulers of San Gimignano were called Podesta and the process of electing them is about as convoluted as its possible to imagine. Edmund Gardiner's 1902 history of Siena and San Gimignano outlines the process. It took me two reads to understand it!
"The Podestà was publicly elected in front of the Pieve or Collegiata. All the magistrates assembled, and the Captains of the Parte Guelfa determined two cities from which he should be chosen. Then they drew by lot twelve councillors, each of whom nominated two knights from each of the two cities. They balloted for these, took the names of the eight who had received most votes, and wrote them on two tickets, four on each, which were inclosed in wax and put into a vessel of water. A child drew out one for the first six months, leaving the other for the second. Then the four names were similarly inclosed in four other wax globules, the child drew again, and the first name that came out was that of the Podestà for the next six months. The names on the second ticket, carefully inclosed in wax, were put into the custody of the Friars Minor until, at the appointed time, they were brought to the General{333} Council and the same process repeated for the Podestà of the second six months."
Our accommodatin
