Description

Guides / 11

The world-famous silhouette of San Gimignano serves as a natural frame for a visit to the Civic Museums, which house the most significant vestiges of its illustrious past.

The Palazzo Comunale, the home of the Painting Gallery and even today the pulsating heart of city life, dominates with its Torre Grossa the magnificent stage set of Piazza Duomo.

Its inviting rooms contain masterpieces of the Sienese and Florentine school, testifying to the changing fortunes of this border territory.

The course through the museum takes visitors in front of famous 14th-century fresco cycles (like the grand Virgin and Child Enthroned in Majesty by Lippo Memmi and the love scenes painted by Memmo di Filippuccio in the Chamber of the Podestà) and the priceless Renaissance panel paintings by artists such as Benozzo Gozzoli and Pinturicchio, with pauses to admire unique examples of sculpture and the decorative arts.

The tour ends with the incomparable view from the top of the Tower, built between 1300 and 1308, where the eye can sweep across the landscape all the way to the Alpuan Alps.