Inside the Palazzo is a museum and access to the tower. We toured the museum and climbed to the top of the "Great Tower" built in 1311; it is 54 meters high. This is a view from the ground. The town is famous for the medieval towers of which 14 still stand. In the 14th century San Gimignano had over 150 of these towers.
The museum houses several great works like the Announcing Angle and Annunciation of Mary which are two circular panels by Filippo Lippi.
This is the view of the Tuscan countryside from the tower. The red arrow indicates the Villa San Paolo - you will have to take my word.
After the climb we toured the Duomo, consecrated in 1148. Here the frescoes tell the old and new testament on the walls. On the back wall is a fresco of the Day of Judgment which is a pretty common subject on the back walls of many of the churches we visited.
We were told that it is to remind the faithful, as they leave church, what awaits if they do not follow the words of the priest.
The Museum of Religious Art is attached and had a large display of liturgical vestments and altar frontals as well as pieces of frescoes and various paintings. The most unusual painting was done on a surface like a tent so on one side the eye saw an image formed by the left edge and on the other side the image formed by the right side - so that the image changed as you walked by it.
We paused for lunch (pizza) then bought some pottery at Tinacci Tito & M. Grazia . By now the streets were very crowded so we decided to return to Villa San Paolo and relax.
There we spent the afternoon basking in the Tuscan sun around the pool. Breakfast was served under the cabanas at the end of the pool. Our room is on the left past the Cypress tree.
This is the entrance to the hotel with a fountain in front and in the back is a tennis court, some sort of bowling game and ping pong. They also have bikes available but you would have to be crazy to drive a bike on an Italian road.
Hotel Villa San Paolo
Phone: 039 057 795 5100
E-mail:
sanpaolo@iol.it
Web:
tuscany.net/sanpaolo/
As for culinary adventures we only had one night in San Gimignano so we only had one experience - unfortunately, it was Cal's worst experience. The food was great but the restaurant was in a 14th century cellar with limited ventilation. Halfway into the dinner, several others in the same room began chain-smoking. I would not recommend Dorando' unless you are suffering from nicotine deprivation.
Here is a pretty good site for San Gimignano: www.sangimignano.com/sghomei.htm