Historic center of San Gimignano

Unesco's Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization has succeeded in San Gimignano's Historical Center, Italy as a World Cultural Heritage in 1990.

The Italian city of San Gimignano dates back to the 10th century and is named after the bishop of Saint Gimignano. Bishop San Gimignano is a native of Modena province of Italy, and he helped the city during the invasion war. The city of San Gimignano is also known as the " City of Towers " because in the city there are 14 towers built in the Middle Ages, but still remain quite intact.

At first glance, the city of San Gimignano is much younger than its nearly 1,000-year-old age because the city government knows how to effectively preserve its inner city structures as well as the city wall. Historically, San Gimignano has 72 towers built by medieval warlords to show off its wealth and power. At that time, San Gimignano was in a very convenient position on a busy traffic road so the city quickly became a busy trading center.

Located on the top of a hill in Tuscany province of Siena, the city of the towers looks ancient with a very characteristic architecture. To visit the historic center of San Gimignano, visitors will have to pass through the city wall surrounding the city built in medieval times. The buildings built inside this city wall are collectively known as the historic center of San Gimignano . Behind the long city wall are 4 large medieval squares with 2 main streets, Via San Matteo and Via San Giovanni, 14 ancient towers, churches, palaces, archaeological museums, public laundry detergent, torture museum .

San Gimignano's historic center is located on a hill and is surrounded by an olive-filled forest, sunflowers and grapes, thus making the buildings more beautiful and romantic. Medieval city, San Gimignano city flourished mainly thanks to the production of flavorings , most of which were processed into saffron and flavored and sold to other cities. It was during this period of wealth that nobles and lords here competed to build towers to symbolize their power and wealth, and to guard the enemy - opposing forces. At first there were only a few three towers built, then to compete with each other, the nobles here built a series of towers, the most in San Gimignano with 72 towers.

Currently, San Gimignano has 14 towers and among the remaining towers are mainly built from the beginning of the 11th century to the XIV century. To be able to build a tall and majestic tower, need a lot of workers and money. The nobility of that period exploited the labor of the people to build these works. Almost all of the towers in San Gimignano's historic center are the same, the exterior is beautiful, but when inside it is empty, not decorated. Because of the competition, racing to build the tower and the tower behind it was always higher than the previous tower, so the San Gimignano city government had to decide not to build the tower's regime at the beginning of the XIV century. So the tallest tower here is Grossa Tower , 54 meters high. If not from Grossa Tower, you can enjoy panoramic views of San Gimignano. However, immediately after that ban, another problem arises, to envy, the nobility cannot build high because of the rules, they turn to build a twin tower . Therefore, in the historic center of San Gimignano, twin towers began to appear.

The towers in San Gimignano's historic center are all named, decided by their owners. For example, Evil Tower, Petchi Tower, Grossa Tower .

The Evil Tower is the tower that has been struck by lightning many times so it is thought that there are demons guarding. Today the outside of the tower is still a testament to this legend.

Petchi tower is still inhabited by people, the owner of the tower is the 4th generation descendant inheriting the family's work. Currently the tower is repaired quite nice and modern, if going inside does not feel like entering a medieval tower.
Like many other cities, the towers of San Gimignano were devastated by war, because of the urbanization of humans. Now, San Gimignano has 14 towers and some ancient buildings, these are testify to the city's once prosperous. If you come to San Gimignano to visit tourism, you cannot ignore important works such as:
14 towers built from the Middle Ages - considered the symbol of the city

La Collegiara : This is the main church in San Gimignano, the church is located in the Duomo square. In the church there is a famous painting, the picture of Saint Santa Fina, made in the 15th century.

According to People's Palace : This is a palace, also one of the most important buildings in San Gimignano. Currently, the palace is used as a museum and the workplace of the City Council.

San Gimignano 1300 : This is a medieval recreated museum of San Gimignano

Medieval laundry detergent : Although this area has been damaged in many parts, the landscape is still very beautiful. In the Middle Ages this was the common laundry of residents in the city.

Torture Museum : In the museum there are tools, pictures and documents about the form of torture of medieval people.

Although not famous and attracting tourists like San Gimignano's other major cities, San Gimignano has its own charm with the city's history and culture.