Under the Tuscan sun
February 23, 2003 | 12:00am
On a blazingly hot day in June 2001, the time had come for us to leave Venice. Despite the troubles we en-countered during our stay, we all felt that it had been all too brief and that the enormous hordes crowding the city had cheated us out of experiencing Venice to the fullest. We had originally planned a three-night stay in Venice but due to the scarcity of rooms during high season we could only stay two nights. Our next destination – San Gemignano – was more off the beaten track, thereby making it easier for us to find accommodations for a longer stay.
San Gemignano is a small medieval town nestled in the Tuscan hills six hours by car from Venice and less than an hour’s drive from Florence. The outstanding characteristic of San Gemignano is a distinctive skyline of 14 tall towers dating from the 13th century. They were originally built as private fortresses or as symbols of their owners’ wealth. None of us could make out this skyline on the day we arrived.
We had left Venice in the early evening and had been slowed by winding roads and traffic, not to mention the abysmal driving habits of the Italians who all seemed to have studied driving in Philippine driving schools. (Is that an oxymoron or what?) We finally got to San Gemignano past midnight and had no idea where we were and what our surroundings were like. The village was dark and everything was closed. We located our inn, the Hotel Bel Soggiorno, in the middle of a deserted street and dragged our luggage and our bedraggled selves up to our rooms and into bed.
Imagine our surprise when we woke up the next day to discover that our hotel was located right in the center of town. We were even more delighted when we walked into the inn’s restaurant and found ourselves gaping at a panoramic picture window overlooking the rolling hills of Tuscany.
Our rooms belonged to the uneven category. Though they were located on the street side, they were not noisy. The main drawback was a bathroom so tiny you could hit your head against the lavabo if you bent your head while sitting on the toilet. (Reading in the toilet was certainly not an option.) Furthermore, the hotel management did not believe in shower curtains. So the only way to take a shower without getting the entire bathroom wet was to plaster yourself spread-eagled against the wall while aiming the shower away from the bathroom. In the end, however, all these (and the comparatively high room rates of US$120 per room) seemed like minor inconveniences compared to the joy of being right in the center of town and using San Gemignano as our base in exploring Tuscany.
Our first stroll through the town confirmed this impression. There were great little shops all along the main street selling goods produced in the area. There were objects of alabaster mined in the neighboring hills; sterling silver pieces made right on the premises; hand-painted majolica and ceramics; terracotta fountains, statues and bas reliefs; jewelry; leather goods; lamps and other light fixtures; brass and copper ware; and many more. For food lovers and would-be picnickers, there was all manner of produce from the surrounding area such as wines, olive oils, preserves, bread, honey and many Tuscan delicacies. There were also very good restaurants (the best being in the Bel Soggiorno), wine bars and cafés, even an Internet café tucked in a little alley away from the main street.
San Gemignano is a perfect reason to suspect that Italy has the most masterpieces of art of any country in the world. Crammed in this little town alone were works of art and architecture whose value would be equivalent to the entire GNP of several third world countries.
In the Museo Civico are "Madonna and Child" and "San Gemignano and his Miracles" by Taddeo di Bartolo, hunting scenes and "Virgin Enthroned" by Lippo Memmi, "Madonna with Saints Gregory and Benedict" by Pinturicchio and "Wedding Scene" frescoes by Memmo di Filippucci. The Collegiata’s plain 12th-century Romanesque facade hides one of the most frescoed churches in Italy. Ghirlandaio’s "Annunciation" immediately greets the visitor at the side entry to the Collegiata. The interior has arches bordering the central aisle painted in blue and white stripes while the vaulted roof is in deep blue speckled with gold stars. The north aisle has 26 episodes from the Old Testament, including "The Creation of Adam and Eve," "Noah and his Ark," "Moses Crossing the Red Sea" and "The Afflictions of Job" by Bartolo di Fredi. The opposite walls contain scenes from the life of Christ painted by Lippo Memmi and, at the back of the church on the nave walls, are scenes from "The Last Judgment" by Taddeo di Bartolo. Interestingly, one of the damned in "The Last Judgment" is a woman who was obviously a lady of easy virtue. A devil is torturing her with particular relish by stabbing her private parts with an enormous trident! (Who says those medieval painters had no sense of humor?)
On our second day in San Gemignano, I decided to wake up early, get past the town walls, and take a brisk walk through the countryside. Tuscany is rich in wildlife, flowers and the insects that feed on them. There were swifts flitting to and from the fields. The meadows were dotted with blue, pink, white and red flowers. I saw cypress trees used as windbreaks along the roadsides. I saw olive groves and fields of maize and barley. I saw vineyards and stone farmhouses. I even espied several tourist villas for rent complete with swimming pools and tennis courts. The air was fresh and clean. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The sun was shining but a cool breeze kept its warmth at bay. Everything was silent save for the birds, bees, cicadas, crickets and grasshoppers.
On our third day, we decided to visit the town of Pisa and its famous leaning tower.
It may come as a surprise to some but the wealth that created Pisa’s Campo dei Miracoli and its leaning tower arose from a maritime past. A surprise indeed considering that the sea is several miles from the city. But Pisa once had a powerful navy that dominated the Western Mediterranean and had trading links with Spain and North Africa. The result was a scientific and cultural revolution which is reflected in buildings erected in the Field of Miracles.
The Leaning Tower is so blindingly famous that people forget that it is merely the bell tower of a cathedral complex around it. The complex includes the Duomo, the Baptistry and the Campo Santo. The Duomo shows a distinct Moorish influence in its façade of colored sandstone, glass and majolica plates and marble patterned into knots, flowers and animals. The Baptistry in turn has a pulpit by Nicola Pisano carved with scenes from the life of Christ. The Campo Santo is a cemetery containing earth from the Holy Land and Roman sarcophagi. All these buildings were built with shallow foundations on sandy silt subsoil. The result is that all of them lean, but none of them lean as spectacularly as the Torre Pendente, the Leaning Tower. This bell tower draws so much attention to itself that everything else risks being forgotten. The tower is an engineering mistake that has enriched Pisa’s tourism industry no end. Imagine, unlike in other instances where mistakes are promptly corrected, generations of scientists have been engaged in ensuring that this particular one remains uncorreced for eternity!
On our fourth day in San Gemignano, we drove to the town of Siena, famous for its Palio, its Duomo and its Piazza del Campo.
Built on seven hills just like Rome, Siena’s medieval city planners made sure that its warren of streets would all end up in the Piazza del Campo. The campo (field) is a fan-shaped open space divided into nine marked sectors, symbolizing the Council of Nine who made up the government of medieval Siena. It is bordered by palazzi and has as its focal point an elaborate fountain carved Jacopo della Quercia. It is dominated by the Torre del Mangia, the second highest belltower in Italy. It is here in the Piazza del Campo that the Palio is held twice a year.
The Palio is a bareback horse race between jockeys representing the 17 contrade, or districts, of Siena. It is Tuscany’s most famous festival and attracts thousands of visitors to the city due to the traditional medieval outfits worn by its participants and the pageantry and heavy betting that precedes the race. The race itself is somewhat anti-climactic because it normally lasts only 90 seconds but those 90 seconds bring in millions of tourist dollars, something which our bumbling tourist industry can only dream of.
Siena’s Duomo is in a square within walking distance of the Piazza del Campo, as is everything else in Siena. The Duomo is one of the few cathedrals in Italy built in full Gothic style. Its façade is wonderfully encrusted in many hues of marble. Its interior has soaring marble columns in black and white marble. Its pulpit is a masterpiece by Nicola Pisano. Its inlaid marble floors have a series of scenes featuring the Massacre of the Innocents. It is spectacular.
After an early dinner in Siena, it was back to San Gemignano for us. Our stay was coming to an end. There were so many other places we would have wanted to see: the famous villas in Poggio a Caiano and Artimino, the Etruscan city of Volterra, the frescoes of Piero della Francesca in Arezzo’s church of San Francesco, the hilltop strongholds of Montepulciano and Monteriggioni. But Florence, seat of the Medici and queen of the Renaissance, was exerting its pull on us and it could no longer be ignored.
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