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Badia
Isola, a village which stands around the Romanesque
Abbey of St.Salvatore; the Abbey, built in XIth century by the
Cluniac Benedectines, has got a façade adorned by little
arches and the interior has three aisles divided by columns
alternated to cross-shaped pillars. The christening font, dating
back to XV century and the cloister, now crumbled, are quite
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Monteriggioni
is the most striking fortified village in Tuscany; it is oval
shaped with 570 metres of massive walls and 14 square-based towers
now partially ruined. The village was built by the Sienese between
1212 and 1219 to defend their territory. The village has got only
two gates: one is on the east side in the direction of Florence,
called St.John's Gate, the other one is on the west side towards
Siena and it is called Franca or Romea. Dante Alighieri in the XXXIst
Canto of his Divine Comedy compared the high and massive walls of
Monteriggioni Castle to the huge creatures surrounding the well at
the entrance of the Ninth Circle:" Perrocchè come in sulla cerchia
tonda/ Monteriggion di torri si corona/Così la proda, che 'l pozzo
circonda,/Torregiavan di mezza la persona/Gli orribili giganti ......"
Today the Castle of Monteriggioni is still very well preserved with
many little shops which remind of an ancient , but beating old place.
A good example of this is the Medieval feast, celebrated every year
on the second week of July, where, among craftmen at work, minstrels,
acrobats, ladies and jesters, spiced wines and old recipe dishes, with
some scudi of Monteriggioni as money and a tunic as garment, you can
feel like really being in the Middle Age.
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Colle di Val d'Elsa
is a town of Medieval origin;on the top side you can admire the ruins of XIIIth
century walls and the tower -house where probably Arnolfo di Cambio was born.
There you can also see St. Augustine Church designed by Sangallo, the baroque
Cathedral and the archeological Bandinelli museum with its interesting etruscan
finds, coming from Monteriggioni necropolis.
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Castellina
in Chianti was a fortified village belonging to the
Chianti League.The fortress with its massive tower and Palazzo
Ugolini (XVI th century) are interesting to visit. |
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S.
Gimignano is still today surrounded by the 13th century
walls and with its eleven towers still has the look of a Medieval
town. A notable monument of S.Gimignano is the Collegiata (XIIth
century),where works by Jacopo della Quercia, Domenico Ghirlandaio,
Barna da Siena etc.are kept. Also the Palazzo del Podestà,
the city museum, inside Palazzo del Popolo, and St. Jacopo's,
probably belonged to the Templars, are worth a visit. Besides,
you can easily reach: Volterra, Siena, Florence, Arezzo, Cortona,
Grosseto and the sea, Orvieto,Perugia, Pienza, Montepulciano,
Montalcino, Monte Oliveto......
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