Tour among the masterpieces of the great masters

Undoubtedly among the most significant monuments of the city stands out the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta, also known as the Cathedral of San Gimignano, which for centuries has been an indispensable destination for spiritual refreshment and cultural enrichment. A space with a basilica plan, marked by fourteen Tuscan stone columns and entirely covered with frescoes. The wonder unfolds in the side walls frescoed in the 14th century with a fresco cycle of the New Testament, a masterpiece of the Sienese artists Lippo and Tederigo Memmi, and the Stories from the Old Testament painted by Bartolo di Fredi. Inside, shining in its own light is the Chapel of Santa Fina. This little jewel of the Renaissance encapsulates the mastery of sculptor Benedetto da Maiano, painter Domenico Ghirlandaio and architect Giuliano da Maiano: three celebrated Florentine artists. The back wall houses the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian by Benozzo Gozzoli and the Last Judgment, by Taddeo di Bartolo, who is also responsible for the depiction of the Paradise and the fine interpretation of theInferno.

Curious similarities surface in the cycle frescoed by the Florentine painter Cenni di Francesco di ser Cenni around 1413 in the Romanesque church of San Lorenzo in Ponte. In the small room, in fact, one can admire otherworldly representations of Dante's Purgatory, of theInferno and of Paradise. The Florentine painter is also credited with the remaking of the Madonna in Glory on the right wall of the loggia, whose face is attributed to the young Simone Martini.

It then finds its rightful place in the ancient Council Chamber of San Gimignano, a testimony clearly referring to the unmistakable master of the 14th-century Sienese school: the Majesty (1317) by Lippo Memmi, a copy of Simone Martini's famous fresco in Siena's Palazzo Pubblico. Also called Dante Hall, on May 7, 1300 it welcomed the supreme poet who, as a Florentine ambassador, arrived to plead for the accession of the municipality of San Gimignano to the League of Guelph municipalities of Tuscany. The hall's splendor was already manifested then with the vivid colors of the chivalric cycle attributed to the painter Azzo di Masetto, created a few years earlier in 1289.

The heritage of the enchanting Tuscan landscape is even more impressive when admired from the top of the Torre Grossa. The last to be built out of a strong desire of the municipality to have a real symbol of power. Inaugurated in 1311, although the towers had already begun to be replaced with more practical dwellings, it was the tallest in the city, reaching the respectable height of 54 meters.

The second floor of the Torre Grossa houses the chamber of the Podestà, where profane stories, by the Sienese Memmo di Filippuccio, from the 14th century warned the governor against corruptions and seductions, represented mainly by the female figure. Opposite the chamber, the hall of the picture gallery, which was originally intended to be frescoed with red and yellow wave decorations to recall the colors of the municipality. The collection preserves panel paintings from religious bodies in the terriotory that have now been suppressed. Thus, testimonies of Sienese and Florentine artists from the 13th to 15th centuries find their home there, including such masters as Coppo di Marcovaldo, Rinaldo da Siena, Filippino Lippi, Benozzo Gozzoli, Benedetto da Maiano and Pinturicchio. With due time, one can appreciate all its masterpieces and satisfy curiosities about the city's two patron saints, following the narrative of Taddeo di Bartolo's panel San Gimignano and eight stories from his life and of the polyptych by Lorenzo di Niccolò di Martino St. Gregory, St. Fina and stories from her life. The model of the city of San Gimignano is held in the hands of the patron saints, committed to eternally protecting a treasure of inestimable value.