One of the Tuscan "hill towns," the medieval walled city of San Gimignano is famous for its towers, about a dozen of which still stand. These towers were built in cities around the region during the Middle Ages by families to show their wealth and offer them protection. When under siege, the families would retreat to the upper floors after burning the wooden staircases from the first floor, pulling up ladders behind them, making them unreachable by the pillagers. San Gimignano's downfall came when it lost a huge portion of its population to the Black Plague and it submitted to Florence. Now it is basically entirely a tourist town, for which Rick Steves snubs it, but we still found it an interesting afternoon visit.
Piazza Della Cisterna:
Towers from the top of San Gimignano:
Interesting. Never heard this before. My question is, after they burned the wooden stairs behind them, how did they get back down??? :-)
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