After lunch we headed to San Gimignano. It is famous for being a well preserved example of a walled medieval village. While other wealthy cities like Florence and Sienna periodically tore down buildings and rebuilt them in the current style (Renaissance, neoclassical, etc.), San Gimignano was particularly devastated by the Black Plague in 1348, losing over half its population, and never really recovered, so they basically didn't change anything in the town for the next 500 years.
Unfortunately our luck didn't hold and it dumped rain on us. The town is very small and there was no tour, we were just given 1.5 hours of free time to explore. It was windy and there was thunder and lightning. The hilly streets became mini rivers. Even with an umbrella my pants and shoes were getting wet. This basically forced us to go into the many tourist shops for shelter.
Finally the rain stopped for a bit and we ventured out. One nice thing is the rain reduced the crowds, so we felt like we had it almost to ourselves in some places.
Our final stop in Tuscany was Pisa. The rain broke, so that was good.
The leaning tower has fairly recently (2008) completed a restoration, so it looks great, clean and bright.
The tower is just the most famous monument in what Pisa calls the Field of Miracles.
Finally we headed back to Florence where we caught a night train to Vienna. As I said we are trying to pack more stuff into our remaining time. 🙂
-David
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