On the softly rolling hills of the countryside between the valleys of the Arbia, the Elsa and the Merse lies Siena. This city with its medieval imprint can be seen in all its sober austere beauty as it unravels through alleys, small streets, closed-in suburbs, airy squares. It is truly one of the finest examples of a medieval city. Various sporadic finds testify that the area now occupied by the city was already inhabited in the bronze age. An Etrus-can settlement also seems to have been established on the site of the current town.
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The architecture of San Gimignano makes this small city, so concentrated and noble, unique with the geometric pattern of the towers rising above the town. It was al-ready known in Etruscan and Roman times. During the Middle Ages its importance grew thanks to the presence of the Via Francigena, the most important route at the time which connected Italy to all of Europe. San Gimig-nano almost always sided with Florence, but was unable to expand its power or its boundaries further because ge-ographically it was inhibited by nearby Florence and Siena. The two urban spaces with the greatest wealth, artistical-ly speaking, are the Piazza della Cisterna and the Piazza Duomo.
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