Imagine being immensely rich and powerful; powerful enough to control parts of a city. Of course, not everyone likes powerful people, so you form into clans and build defensive towers, the higher the better.
Height, of course, was a symbol of wealth–he who builds highest has the most money to burn–but it also means you can see your enemy’s movements over more of the city. Power and paranoia marked the building of the medieval towers in Italy. San Gimignano in Tuscany is the place that has the most still standing. There are 14 of them.
They’re darn impressive from a distance. You can rent a little place outside San Gimignano and pretend you’re looking at a medieval Manhattan. In fact, you can rent a place with its very own tower, and you can look at San Gimignano’s clot of towers from your window, or maybe from your shared pool. That’s Palazzo di Messerbrogio, just 3 km from San Gimignano over there on the right.
Vacapedia has lots of rentals around San Gimignano. You can also visit one of my favorite cities, Volterra, which is close by. Or, you can rent a cottage there.
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