San Gimignano

Notice the wear on the steps
The green leaves growing on the wall below (lower right) are capers.

 San Gimignano is a medieval city surrounded by walls and famous for its towers, the Towers of Tuscany, 13 of the 70 remain. I'm rereading a book called The Towers of Tuscany by Carol M. Cram and now the setting is familiar and I can walk with the characters as they go about their day.  The well in the center of town has grooves from centuries of hauling up buckets of water, the tour guide called them gossip marks.  I would have liked to spend the entire day there with my sketch book and really study the buildings and landscape but knowing me I never would have decided where to start the sketch......... so much to take in.  The last picture is a clay model of the city.

Then we went to a winery and tasted the local wines.  My palate it not refined enough to pick up the nuances of the wine.  I'll have to keep sampling . --Ann--