San Gimignano stands on an ancient Etruscan

settlement around a church dating back to the seventh century and donated to a castle in 929 episcopate of Volterra ,in the twelfth century it became a free municipality . His first city wall was built in 998 , during which Gimignanosan San Gimignano became a point of trade along the way Francigena.

Pride of families enriched with businesses 72 gives rise towers (by law , however , none of these could be overcome the height of the tower of the town , called Rognosa ) . Torn by constant internal struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines ( in the spring of 1300 Dante Alighieri stayed there as the ambassador of the Guelph League of Tuscany) and always in contrast to the nearby Volterra , in 1343 it was conquered by the Duke of Athens, and in 1353 he submitted defitivamente in Florence, thence following the fortunes of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until 1860.La urban structure and the numerous civil and religious buildings of San Gimignano, remained almost intact, permission to retain the medieval appearance ; 15 of 72 towers remain whole or off shotgun but they are enough to make unmistakable profile of the city.