Begin your private day trip to Siena and San Gimignano with a convenient hotel pick-up. Leave the city of Florence to enjoy total immersion in the wonderful Chianti region, one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world.
Stop to admire Siena's heart, the central piazza called Il Campo, which is worldwide renowned for the famous Palio, a horse race that runs around the piazza two times every summer. The Campo is dominated by the red Palazzo Pubblico and its tower, Torre del Mangia. The Civic Palace, built between 1297 and 1310, still houses the city's municipal offices much like Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. From its internal courtyard, it is possible to access the Torre del Mangia and the Civic Museum. Visit the Sala del Mappamondo and the Sala della Pace and admire the huge Maestà and the Equestrian Portrait of Guidoriccio da Fogliano by Simone Martini and Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Allegories of Good and Bad Government, once considered the most important cycle of secular paintings of the Middle Ages.
Siena's Cathedral lies a few steps from Piazza del Campo. Admire this Gothic building filled with treasures by Pisano, Donatello and Michelangelo as well as frescoes by Pinturicchio. The impressive exterior and interior are decorated in white and greenish-black marble in alternating stripes, black and white being the symbolic colors of Siena. Once inside, admire the most impressive and beautiful treasure of the cathedral, the floor, which is decorated with the ancient art of mosaics to create a storytelling masterpiece. Don't miss the beautiful frescoes by Pinturicchio and the young Raphael in the Piccolomini Library.
After the stop in Siena, the tour proceeds to San Gimignano, the medieval hilltop town surrounded by walls and famous for its incredible number of towers. Today "only" 14 towers have survived, but at the time of the city at its greatest splendor they were 72; this is why it is still called "the Medieval Manhattan". Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1990, San Gimignano offers visitors the chance to step back in time and enjoy excellent local products including saffron and white wine, the Vernaccia di San Gimignano.