We made a stop in San Gimignano- the epitome of a Tuscan hill town with 14 medieval towers still standing, this place feels perfectly preserved.
Entering the city through the Porta San Giovanni, or as us Americans may call it, the main street. :)
This view is Tuscany in a nut-shell. Rolling hills covered with olive, grape and cypress trees, studded with gorgeous villas.
We landed at the Piazza della Cisterna, named for the cistern that is served by the old well standing in the center of the square (above).
Gelateria Dondoli- world champion gelato. Say no more. It was creamy, cold perfection.
Hilltop views at the Rocca...amazing, and the perfect stop to end our tour of San Gimignano.
This beautiful old church was a stone's throw from where we were staying for the week. Because Brian got sick during our stay, we spent a lot of time on the property of our villa while he recovered. The kids literally spent 8 hours straight playing outside on one of the days. Clearly, they needed the time to be outside with unstructured activities, using their imaginations and soaking all of this gorgeous nature in. That is until they found some potent red berries that they used to write their names on the walls of our villa. Oh man. We can laugh now because it came out after some serious scrubbing, but it was one of those moments where you want to scream "what were you thinking?!".
I'm so glad we came to Tuscany, we saw some amazing stuff, but I was even happier that we were "forced" to slow down and do almost nothing. Just what we needed, as evidenced by our kids dirt-stained clothes and sun-kissed cheeks...always the sign of a great vacation.
