Siena and San Gimignano – Full Day Tour

Visiting “San Gimignano” is like using a Time Machine back and forth from past to today’s amenities & beauties. The flourishing and lively city will surprise you with its many excellences!

As we are part of the lucky and small community who lives immersed in a “great beauty” of chiseled, unique landscapes, it’s a pleasure for us to invite you to a walk out of the beaten paths in this gem of intact art and nature, revealing its many frescoes, sculptures and architectures continuously studied and restored by local experts. The history of the walled city is fascinating: it was a small castle built on a stretch of the “Via Francigena”, one of the important pilgrimage routes to Rome and Jerusalem. This way was trodden by faithful Christians, merchants, soldiers, kings and courtiers, artists and artisans; all this people made the town growing, flourishing and glorious.
The unique skyline of its 16 towers testifies the splendour of the ancient times.

Amongst the many “Sangimignanese” today’s talent, we will capture the passion of some farm owners maintaining organic saffron and Vernaccia grape growing …some artists working in the ceramic, wool, wood, leather, silver, sculpture and painting labs …some clever street artists … some surprising contemporary art galleries… We will visit St. Augustin church with the superb Benozzo Gozzoli’s cycle of frescoes, The medieval Cathedral and renaissance frescoes, the Civic Museum painting collection, the private tower home furnished in style beginning ‘900.

From St. Gimignano we’ll reach Siena. Everybody falls in love with the lively and rich city life of Siena, the proud and elegant stroll of the “siennese”, so much looking like their ancestors, and forever portrayed in the frescoes of its main palaces and churches. ”Il Duomo” is an art and architecture “must” to see. Here Michelangelo, Donatello, Bernini, Pinturicchio and the young Raffaello, Duccio and Pisano produced some of their most significant masterpieces. In Siena we follow an itinerary to discover the artistic heritage and at the same time the social, political and rural everyday life of the XIV century, going through the frescoes of Palazzo Pubblico’s and Santa Maria della Scala’s Museums. This Christian community is deeply devoted to two Holy women, the local Dominican sister Catherine and the Virgin Mary, patron of the “Palio”.

This traditional millenary horse race event spreads its widespread organization in everybody’s life, and each sienese strongly and proudly feels a passionate belonging. We will visit one of the 17 amazing “Contrade”, they are often located in the most beautiful and panoramic buildings of the town, and maintain a valuable collection of medieval costumes and Palio’s trophies.

This town also boasts some of the most characteristic food stuff shops, you easily find out by following the delicious smells and scents of cheese and salami along the alleys, or having a coffe break at the historical Nannini’s Bar to try some typical traditional sweets like ricciarelli and panforte. But one product above the others you will not miss is the “Cinta Senese”.