San Gimignano - a Little Gem!

We had always planned to make a few stops through Tuscany on our drive from Florence to Rome, but we'd never really discussed where we wanted to go besides Siena. It just so happened that the people who shared our train car from France to Italy were American, let me perouse their Frommer's book, and highly recommended we visit a little town called San Gimignano.

I have to admit I had never heard of this picturesque medieval hilltop town until then, but it is well worth a trip! Where other Italian cities - though beautiful - have succumbed to modern-day amenities and now feature major paved thoroughfares, Internet cafes, and guys hawking fake Prada bags alongside every tourist attraction, seeing San Gimignano is like taking a step back into the 10th century. Although lots of chi-chi boutiques have moved into the bottom story of most of the village's buildings (and tons of tourists have discovered the place), the village has really been untouched by time. Many of its medieval towers still stand, the walls around the city are well-preserved, and the sweeping views of the Tuscan countryside are simply breathtaking. Not so romantic are its two torture museums, but they were pretty impressive in their own right.

We wanted to take the time to climb one of the city's towers to get an even better vantage point, but a storm was moving in and we had to run if we were going to stop in Siena as well!