VOLTERRA, SAN GIMIGNANO, CERTALDO

VOLTERRA

It is an Etruscan settlement with finds that date back to the IX century BC. The walls and the splendid dominating position made the town easily defendable, as proved by the fact that it was the last Etruscan centre to suffer the military and cultural domination by the Romans. In the V century the main public buildings and the last of the city walls were constructed while the divisions between the Guelph and Ghibelline families favoured the advent of the Florentine domination, making it an important military centre in the struggle against Siena.To strengthen the defensive structures the Medici built a fortress : today such a structure, shows obvious signs of all historic periods making Volterra a true open air museum. The walls and the gates are of the Etruscan period, the archaeological area with the Theatre and Roman Forum, the Palazzo dei Priori (the oldest public building in Tuscany), the Municipal Palazzo, the Cathedral, the Baptistry and the walls are from the period of the Medieval communes.

SAN GIMIGNANO

Soaring on a hilltop overlooking Valdelsa, the town is an outstanding testimonial to medieval Tuscan urban planning (even if it is almost certain that the territory was inhabited in Etruscan times). It was already an important market centre in the 10C, at the crossroads of important routes, and the 72 tower were a clear expression of the city’s prosperity. Then the new layout of the Via Francigena and the development of nearby towns gradually brought about economic decline: circumstance that has certainly favoured the perfect preservation of a typical Tuscan Medieval commune. Still encircled by its medieval walls, only 13 towers are still standing today. It is on the list of Unesco – protected heritages.

CERTALDO

This small town in Valdelsa of Etruscan-Roman origin has two centres, the older one rising on high land (Certaldo Alto or Castello) and the other lying below (Certaldo Basso or Borgo). The medieval Rione Castello contains the Casa del Boccaccio (now museum), where the great writer and poet lived in several periods of his life and is said to have died in 1375, and many other important buildings. The principal feature of most medieval hamlets, like Certaldo, is their main square. In medieval times, a town's major buildings and local powers faced onto its main square, where the religious, political, civil and commercial headquarters were based. Certaldo, instead, is located on the slopes of a hillside and it didn't have much space for a large piazza. The squares that exist in Certaldo today were in the past gardens, set up to feed citizens in the event of siege.

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