San Gimignano, the secret garden in the historic centre

As I approach San Gimignano I think of the Sleeping Beauty Castle, remember that? it was rich in towers. San Gimignano, rightfully included in the UNESCO heritage sites, still has 14 of them all well preserved, which develop on a hill and is surrounded by a dense forest.

The connection arises from the fact that it seems to be really in a fairy tale, here the houses are all in stone, the town is protected by walls with 8 entrances and, although in the province of Siena in Tuscany and in 2021, nothing seems to have changed since the 500.

To visit this property I give you an appointment in Piazza della Cisterna. Its surrounded triangular shape bewitched me. Surrounded by houses and different architectures, embellished with both Romanesque and Gothic windows with forked shapes, it makes us stay with the noses upward walking among the alleys and alleys with the floors in strips of terracotta.

Here you don’t get used to beauty, and so here we are at the gate that borders the property we are about to visit, located next to “Casa Campatelli” owned by FAI. Once through the gate, you will be amazed by a garden that no one expects to find inside this ancient town. Here, in a green meadow, there are various plants including two beautiful olive trees and with the back to the gate we enjoy the splendid view of three austere towers. We continue along the stone driveway flanked by a high hedge on the left and a boundary wall on the right until access to the apartment. A first sitting room on the ground floor welcomes us. Cooked, wrapped and exposed stones immediately make us realize that in the renovation the raw materials used in local architecture have always been valued. A terracotta staircase leads to the first floor where on the right we find the first of two bathrooms both with shower and on the left the spacious eat-in kitchen that overlooks a hilly landscape that seems painted.

In the adjoining living room we find as in the kitchen a vaulted terracotta ceiling and from the window the same spectacular panorama while a wall with partial exposed stone enhances the entire environment.

The well-defined sleeping area consists of two rooms, one double, one smaller and the second bathroom. Throughout the apartment the thick and historic walls create a special atmosphere and become a natural thermal insulator that retains heat in winter and cool in summer.
I think that you too, walking through these streets and visiting this house, you will be as fascinated as me, and seeing the skyline in the rearview mirror you will start to count the days that separate you from the one when, seeing all this, you will think “here I am”