San Gimignano

San Gimignano is 25 mi/40 km southwest of Florence, famous mainly for its medieval towers and most famous picturesque of all the Tuscan hill towns. In the past there were more than 70 towers, but only 14 remain today. You can visit town square, the Piazza della Cisterna, and visit the 13th-century town hall, the Palazzo del Popolo. Stay in nearby Volterra, with its Etruscan ruins and vertiginous views from high on a forbidding hilltop. It will take quite a bit of time to get there from either Rome or Florence, so we suggest that you spend at least one full day and night there.