San Gimignano

Tiny, hilly crowded...I was a bit scared of going to San Gimignano. Everywhere you look, all you read about it is that its prettiness is hard to see through the crowds. The closer one gets to those towers, the more scared and excited one gets. But all the hype and impending disappointment were great: the town was amazing! Lowered expectations never fail to pay in great dividends. Small yet imposing and surrounded by fairytale hills all around, San Gimignano is just dripping with that touristic idea of "Tuscany". (An idea, I cannot lie, that I brought with me.) There were no crowds and the hills were great except for the lack of a "real" store and restaurant (this being low season, everything was closed.) I think three things were responsible for this: (1) I went smack in the middle of winter, (2) I arrived just as the sun was setting and the light was turning golden, and (3) and unseasonably warm winter kept the hills green without too much haze. Enough talk though, as we gloriously bask in the beauty of this small town-








Although the next day was cold and cloudy and rainy, nothing could have ruined the town for me as I freely walked around and had breakfast surrounded with nothing but silence.
Was the town really that special? Well, to be honest Arcua Petrarca or Cittadella can provided the same amount of charm and beauty at any time of the day and year. What the trip emphasized most was not that certain parts of Italy are more beautiful than the rest, but only that the country in general is beautiful, with some parts better at selling themselves than others. Which to some extent is good: let Tuscany have the crowds. It deserves it...and it keeps the rest of the country quiet. I will enjoy Tuscany when it settles down in the winter.

EDIT: Hey look!