Our company, located in the Florence area, offers excursions to the most famous art cities in Tuscany and central Italy . Florence and Tuscany history, together with the unique landscape and the art masterpieces that you can admire, will make your holiday unforgettable.
Private full day tour Siena - San Gimignano and Monteriggioni starting from Florence - about 8 hours long
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SIENA
On the softly roffing hilis of the countryside between the valleys of the Arbia, the Eisa and the Merse lies Siena. This city with its medievai imprint can be seen in all its sober austere beauty as it unraveis through alleys, small streets, closed in suburbs, airy squares. it is truly one of the finest examples of a medieval city. Various sporadic finds testify that the area now occupied by the cìty was already inhabited in the bronze age. An Etruscan settlement aiso seems to have been established on the site of the current town. But the first detailed information dates to Roman times. We, know, for instance, that Siena, at the time Sena Julia, must have been a Roman civitas, founded as a military colony by Caesar (a legend maintains that the city was founded by Aschio and Senio, Remo’s two sons). In the Lombard period Siena was already quite famous. After the Carolingian conquest it was subject to the pre eminence of the Bishops until the 11th century when it became a free commune.
This was when the city experienced its first great period of territorial and urban expansion, thanks to the flourishing commerce and trade which depended on the route followed by the Via Francigena which put the city in communication with the area north of the Alps. In the 12th and 13th centuries the city, by new rich and powerful (Sienese bankers used to lend considerabie sums to sovereigns, popes and princes), often clashed with the neighboring city of Florence on which it inflicted a crushìng defeat in 1260 in the famous battle of Monteaperti. These were also the years in which some of the most important trends in medieval painting took form in Siena. Outstanding personalities such as Duccio da Buoninsegna, Simone Martini, Ambrogio Lorenzetti carne into the world and left inimitable masterpieces, influencing with their works ali of 14th century art. In 1269 the Sienese were this time drastically defeated at Colle Vai d’Elsa by the Fiorentine troops. It meant the beginning of a decline which, with its ups and downs, intensified in the course of the foliowing centuries. In fact in 1487 Siena became a signoria under the aegis of Pandolfo Petrucci. In the l6th century it allied itself with Charles V and then with Philip II and in 1559 surrendered to the troops of Giangiacomo de’ Medici and passed under the dominion of Cosimo I. In the centuries that followed it fell under the Lorraine, following the sorts of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. In 1859 it was the first Tuscan city annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.
SAN GIMIGNANO
The architecture of San Gimignano makes this small city, so concentrated and noble, unique with the geometric pattern of the towers rising above the town. It was already known in Etruscan and Roman times. During the Middie Ages its importance grew thanks to the presence of the Via Francigena, the most important route at the time which connected Italy to all of Europe. San Gimignano almost always sided with Florence, but was unable to expand its power or its boundaries further because geographically it was inhibited by nearby Florence and Siena. The two urban spaces with the greatest wealth, artistically speaking, are the Piazza della Cisterna and the Piazza Duomo. The former takes its name from the 13th- century cistern set almost in the center of the square. All around is a series of medieval buildings including, on the south, the Palazzo Tortolini Treccani (14th cent.) with two tiers of two—light windows, the Casa Salvestrini and the Casa Razzi (13th cent.); on the west side, the twin Guelph Towers of the Ardinghelli (13th cent.); and lastly, on the north, the Palazzo Cortesi flanked by the tower of the same name known also as Torre del Diavolo (Devil’s Tower).
The Palazzo del Podestà, built in 1239 and enlarged about a century later, rises up on the Piazza Duomo. There is a fine fresco by Sodoma on the ground floor. One of the tallest towers (51 m.), the Torre known as Rognosa, rises up over the palace, while right across the way is the Collegiata, built around 1239 on the ruins of the old parish church of San Gimignano, with a fine facade in brick and stone. The tripartite Romanesque interior has magrnficent cross vaulting. On the internal wall of the facade there are frescoes by Taddeo di Bartolo, and, at the sides, two wooden statues by Jacopo della Quercia (1421). The walls are entirely covered with fine frescoes: on the wall of the right aisle there is a beautiful cycle depicting Scenes and Episodes of the New Testament by Barna da Siena. At the back. of the aisle is the Chapel of Santa Fina (patron saint of the city), with terra cottas by Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano; the frescoes on the side walls with Episodes from the Life of the Saint are by Ghirlandaio (1475), the fine altar piece is by Giuliano da Maiano. On the wall of the left aisle there is another fresco cycle of Stories of the Old Testament. Note the fine ciborium (1475) by Benedetto da Maiano on the high altar and an Annunciation by Ghirlandaio in the loggia of the Baptistery. The Palazzo del Popolo (now Town Hall) stands to the left of the Collegiata. It was built in the second haif of the 13th century and enlarged in the early decades of the next century. The fine facade is spangled with the coats of arms of the podestà. Inside are the Museo Civico and the Pinacoteca Civica. The former is installed on the top floor and exhibits extremely interesting works including a fresco of the Maestà by Lippo Memmi.
The latter contains a valuable collection of paintings of the schools of Siena and Florence from the 13th to the 15th centuries, including works by Filippino Lippi, Coppo di Marcovaldo, Pinturicchio and Benozzo Gozzoli. Near the Piazza del Duomo is the Piazza Pecori with the fine Palazzo della Propositura, seat of the Museum of Religious Art with its rich collection of paintings, precious church furnishings and minor arts. Near the square is the Rocca, built by the Florentines in 1353. This solid bastion is pentagonal in plan and has small towers and the remains of walis. Other historical buildings of note include the Church of San Bartolomeo (13th cent.), with a brick facade decorated with two orders of blind arches; the Church of Sant’Agostino (late l3th cent.), with an extremely simple facade and works by Benozzo Gozzoli, Lippo Memmi and Bartolo di Fredi inside; the Church of San Pietro (11th cent.); the Church of San Jacopo (13th cent.), with a nave only and unusual elements in the vaults which spring from transverse arches on engaged piers with haif columns; and finaily the former Church of San Francesco (now used as a wine cellar) with a lovely white facade.
MONTERIGGIONI
Monteriggioni stands peacefully on top of one of the graceful hilis north of Siena. It owes its picturesque beauty to the clear-cut outline of its enclosing wall and 14 square towers. The fortress was formerly a Ghibelline outpost, built by the Sienese in the early 13C, and was described by Dante in his “Divine Comedy”. Orient Yourself: Monteriggioni lies only l5km/9mi from Siena; its towers are visible from the Florence-Siena motorway. Parking:Traffic Is restricted within the walls to residents and hotel guests only. Car park beside the approach road 5min on foot from the entrance. As the approach road beyond the car park is steep, it is not advisable to drive up to the village with a trailer or caravan in tow. The village, which Is totaily contained within its walls, consists of a long main street running from south to north between the two gates and passing along one side of the square which is flanked (east) by a smail Romanesque-Gothic church. The few houses are in a narrow lane leading off the northwest corner of the square.