People come to San Gimignano to enjoy its stone architecture and medieval towers; its museums and views — oh yes, and one particular gelato shop. San Gimignano is as touristy as Tuscany gets — but it’s still a fun place to visit.
Before you plan your visit to San Gimignano, you should know what it is: a small town (population: 7,000) with an even smaller walled medieval city. That’s the part you’ll visit, and this town caters almost entirely to tourists.
What does that mean? To compare it to nearby Siena, Siena is still a city where regular Tuscan folks live and work. San Gimignano has one industry: tourism. In the walled city of San Gimignano, I didn’t see a hardware store, a dry cleaner, a flea market — anything that caters primarily to locals.
All the being said — I still think San Gimignano is worth visiting. One of the best reasons to visit San Gimignano is for the photography. The walled town is incredibly photogenic, the views over the landscape are grand, and the 14 stone towers make up a “Medieval Manhattan” that is unique in Tuscany.
It’s a bit hairy to get to San Gimignano from Florence by public transit. When I visited, I went with Walks on their Tuscany tour through San Gimignano, Siena and the Chianti wine region (they let me join the tour for free, and I loved it anyway). It was an easy and fun way to see all three places in a single day without worrying about transit connections!
If you’re looking for those quintessential Tuscany views — a medieval town surrounded by lush, green rolling hills as far as the eye can see — you’ll love climbing the Torre Grossa in San Gimignano!
No matter where you’re going, look up the weather of the exact place you’re visiting to have the most accurate idea of what you’ll be facing.
The historic center of San Gimignano is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for two major reasons. First, it was an important stop for pilgrims traveling to Rome during the Middle Ages, and second, it was recognized for its impressive towers — though sadly, only 14 of the original 72 towers survive today.
Like most medieval European cities, San Gimignano has its fair share of beautiful churches to visit.
If you’d like to learn more about the culture and history of San Gimignano, you can visit one of the town’s museums or galleries.
