Podere La Tesa has the great advantage to be settled in the real countryside while you will not need the car for your daily activities, being just 400 metres far from a large supemarket and 600-700 metres far from restaurants. The beautiful village of San Gimignano is only 800 metres far. San Gimignano is a city of art which, since the middle ages, has been a crossroads of trade and tourist traffic. Over the years the town and its territory have not lost this vocation. Today San Gimignano is a UNESCO World Heritage town, the first in the Province of Siena to be awarded this recognition. San Gimignano offers the visitor everything a town needs: history, art masterpieces, an architecture unique in the world, a countryside and landscape that are the finest in Tuscany. Together with all this San Gimignano can boast excellent food and wine: a selection of traditional, certificated products, accompanied by wines such as Vernaccia, the first Italian white wine to be declared DOCG (Guaranteed Controlled Denomination of Origin), a wine which is even mentioned by Dante Alighieri in The Divine Comedy. To its artistic, architectural and landscape beauties, not to mention the pleasures of the table, San Gimignano can add modern, people-friendly services, high quality accommodation, averagely accessible prices and a strategic position between Siena and Florence.

The perfect point of departure for discovering the whole of Tuscany.

TRIPS

1. Firenze (about 48 km far): you will need about 50-55 minutes in order to reach Florence by car, driving on the Highway Siena-Firenze. Florence is the capital of Tuscany and it is crossed by the Arno river. Florence contains an exceptional artistic treasure. Cimabue, Giotto, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio, the Della Robbia brothers, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo: their works, along with those of many generations of artists up to the masters of the present century, are gathered in the city's many museums. In Florence, thanks to Dante Alighieri, the Italian language was born. Up to the time of Charlemagne, Florence was a Town of Studies and Universities. Today it includes many specialized institutes and is an international cultural center.

2. Siena (about 38 km far) and the medieval village of Monteriggioni: you will need about 40 minutes in order to reach Siena by car, driving on the Highway Siena-Firenze. You will see Monteriggioni while driving to Siena, about 15 km before to arrive to Siena. Situated in the heart of Tuscany, this town is built on three hills, maintaining intacted its medieval appearance characterized by narrow winding streets and noble buildings. Of Etruscan origin, it is a city of art treasures and of studies, a medioeval jewel unspoilted by the Time, with its small alleyways towers, churches, palaces and a hundred other splendid monuments embraced by a dreamy atmosphere. Siena is the city of the PALIO. The PALIO takes place twice a year: on July 2 and on August 16. The 17 "contrade" into which the city is divided compete in it, wearing their traditional costumes and carrying their emblems. On Wednesdays in Siena there is a large street-market, so on this week-day is very difficult to find a parking place: in case you would like to visit it on Wednesdays, we warmly suggest you to arrive in Siena before 8 am.

3. Volterra (about 50 km far): you will need about 40 minutes in order to reach Volterra by car. Volterra still retains its strong medieval character, charm and atmosphere. Its isolated position has impeded any progressive development. The defensive wall built in the 13th century was the result of an urban development that began in the year 1000 and was completed at the beginning of the 14th century. In the 15th century the city was reduced to a castrum which developed around the early church of Santa Maria (the cathedral) and the Pratus Episcopatus (Piazza dei Priori).

4. Pisa and Lucca: these 2 towns are on the same route, first comes Lucca, then Pisa. Lucca is a splendid town in the heart of Tuscany. Its major monuments are the sixteenth century walls which, with their length of 4200 metres, completely surround the city-centre. This majestic construction took over a century to be completed. Its memorable promenade is something unequal and unrepeatable. Another wonderful artistic construction is the XIV century Guinigi's Tower with its olm-oak tree on top. We also like to mention the XV century Cathedral of San Martino with its particular facade. And finally the San Michele church which was built on a beautiful square considered the real center of the city. Pisa's four major buildings - the Duomo , its most famous Bell-tower (which almost immediately slipped to become the "Leaning Tower"), the Baptistry and the monumental cemetery of the Camposanto - were built on a broad swathe of grassy lawn, just within the northern walls of the city. Nowhere else in Italy are the key buildings of a city arrayed with such precision, and nowhere is there so beautiful a contrast of stonework and open meadow. However, the turf rests on highly unstable sandy soil, which accounts for the tower's lean; take a look at the baptistry and you'll see that it leans the other way from the tower.