SOL: San Gimignano & Monteriggioni, Day 7

Friday, February 15, 2019

 Another "from a moving bus" shot taken as we left Florence for a day in the hills of Tuscany.

First stop: Florence American Cemetery and Memorial

 

"The 4,398 servicemen and four women interred in the cemetery represent 39 percent of the temporary burials originally made between Rome and the Alps. Most died in the fighting which occurred after the capture of Rome in June 1944. Included among them are casualties of the heavy fighting in the Apenninnes Mountains shortly before the war's end."

- Florence American Cemetery Memorial Visitor Booklet  

Second Stop: San Gimignano

San Gimignano is characterized by its towers. The towers give the  city a unique appearance and show us what most of Tuscany looked like during the Middle Ages. Many of the original towers survive, but the 14 we see today is only a small sample; there were once more than 70 of them. Those huge structures are fine examples of medieval engineering, but also emphasized security, prestige, and neighborhood dominance for the families who built them.

Church of San Francesco

Piazza del Duomo,

the town's Romanesque cathedral

 Piazza della Cisterna, built in 1273, showing the stone imprints of ropes that were lowered into the well more than 700 years ago.

San Gimignano was a natural stop for pilgrims traveling to or from Rome on the Via Francigena. Today it's a natural stop for tourists complete with the medieval towers, the well in the town center, shopping, views of the Tuscan countryside, and of course gelato.

 

A scheduled late lunch made this gelato stop absolutely necessary!

Third Stop: Lunch at Bibbiano La Taverna

overlooking the Tuscan Hills 

 

Empty plates, happy diners! 

 

 

  San Gimignano from our lunch spot

  

Back on the bus with Nancy, a lady who loves stars. 

This bus was made for her!

Fourth Stop:  Monteriggioni, 

an impressive walled Medieval town, 

built in 1200

The village, viewed from the bus!

Fifth Stop: Famous Florence viewpoint!

 

  
Sixth Stop: Dinner on our own  

before evening presentation on Florence

Love an Italian grocery

and these fabulous traveling friends!