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The Tale of Two Tuscan Cities

Reg Spittle 2 Comments
Our view of our destination from the Via Francigena.
The tower city in our rear-view mirror.

We left behind San Gimignano—the tower city—and followed the Via Francigena to Monteriggioni—the walled city.

It was a day of ups and downs, showing off gorgeous Tuscan views from a sometimes rugged trail along with many miles of arduous and even dangerous road walking.

At one water crossing, longer and trickier than the one in the photo above, a young guy yelled out as I started, “Need some help?” Thanks to practice on the John Muir Trail, I handled the crossing on my own with no problem. I am fighting taking offense, though, when a whippersnapper assumes that my age makes me feeble.

By the end of nearly nine hours, we covered nearly 19 miles and 2,400 feet of ascent, including a final push up an achilles-testing climb to the imposing walled city.

In one day, our feet covered two of the most beautiful places in all of Italy.

The City of Towers and a Trail Surprise

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We glimpse San Gimignano from the trail. Today, we climbed the tallest of 14 towers for a Tuscan view.

San Gimignano was quite a sight from afar and continued to impress as Sue and I wandered the narrow streets and alleys. The more-than-1,000-years-old Via Francigena was instrumental to the birth and growth of San Gimignano and so many other places we visit on this journey.

San Gimignano once boasted 72 towers during a time when the height of your tower represented power and wealth. Today, there are 14 towers.

On our walk to the city on the Via Francigena, we met a pilgrim bursting with stories from his journey—from Canterbury, England, the official starting point of the VF. Chris Wilmoth began in 2024, but had to leave Europe when his visa ran out. He picked up this year where he left off. He plans to walk to the southern tip of Italy, and will finish with roughly 2,000 miles.

Chris calls San Jose, California home and is the only American we have seen on this trail. You can check out Chris’ adventures at chris-in-namibia. com

Buon Camino, Chris! We were fortunate to share time with you.