Day 17, Friday 3rd May 2024.
Cavallina to San Gimignano, Tuscany.
We had some rain overnight but the morning started dry, thank goodness.
Today we are heading for San Gimignano, a walled city on a hill in Tuscany and one of Lona’s favourite places in Italy. We had passed close by on previous trips but had never stopped for a gander, so this time we made a special visit. I wanted to see what Lona held so dear about it.
The journey today took us through a lot of tunnels, and when we weren’t in a tunnel the landscape was gorgeous, cypress trees denoting residences, Tuscan rolling hills with Chianti growing on the slopes. What was not to love?
Even if you’re not looking out for it, San Gimignano appears before your very eyes in the distance, perched atop a hill in all it’s glory. Wow!
The Sosta we were going to use is only a 20-30 minute walk into the city and we found it quite easily. We were prepared to walk in but the local bus had just pulled up so we hopped aboard. €1.20 each and Meg was free but to her chagrin she had to wear her muzzle. It’s a soft material one but that didn’t stop her trying to get it off. Once she was on the bus she forgot about the muzzle and settled down.
The bus drops you right at the gate entrance into the city. As you can imagine, it was very busy, coach loads of people and minibuses doing tours. As there are quite a few beautiful towns and cities close together here, you can visit a number of them in one day if you wanted to.
We just went on a wander. Dante lived here for a while and we saw an actor reading one of his poems – Divine Comedy 
, up at the top of the city, in the ruins of a church and then down by the cathedral in the Loggia.
There are 14 towers left in San Gimignano from an original 72, some were as high as 50 metres. They were built by noble and prominent families as symbols of their wealth and power. As it’s a UNESCO heritage site the city is as original as it can be.
The shops are small and packed to the ceilings with goods for sale, cheese, salamis, wine and pottery. Strangely there are at least 2 torture museums, not sure what they have in them but some of the advertising was grim 
.
The views from the walls, as you can guess are breathtaking 
, not only can you see for miles but the different greens of the vegetation stood out in the afternoon sun.
It was still chilly in the shade if you had a breeze so an outer layer was still necessary.
Instead of sitting down to lunch, we queued with the locals for a pizza sandwich 
. I had vegetables and gorgonzola, Gareth had ham and salad. We took them around to the cathedral steps and sat with loads of other people and pigeons. While sitting there I noticed some pilgrims with shells on their bags.
Googling it, I discovered that San Gimignano is a stop on the Via Francigena, a pilgrimage from Canterbury to Rome and then to the Holy Land. How interesting, now we know why we had seen so many groups of people with walking poles etc. When leaving the city I noticed the info board explaining the walk.
San Gimignano is beautiful, I now know why my gorgeous sister loved it. It’s still old, it’s everything you want to see when you think of
Tuscany, there is minimal traffic so you are free to meander through the little lanes and backstreets, plenty of cute little terraces for drinks and food and lots of opportunities to buy a little of this special place to take home. We bought some local Chianti and a couple of little dishes.
We walked back as the weather was lovely (and mostly downhill). Stopping just before the Sosta on a well placed park bench for some time to soak up the view. I had a few tears wishing she was still here to see what I was seeing and I was glad I’d got to see it with my own eyes to appreciate what she saw 
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Back at the van we had an early dinner and, like the rest of the campers around us, were in bed by 10pm!
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