Italy Traveller Guide

The strategic village of SAN MINIATO , midway between Pisa and Florence (42km from both), was given its landmark fortress by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in 1236. Today it’s an captivating mid-journey stopoff, split between a modern valley-floor settlement with train and bus stations and the original medieval village on its hilltop with a warren of captivating cobbled alleys. Dominating the old quarter’s central Piazza del Popolo is the fourteenth-century church of San Domenico ; its windows, glazed with odd greenish-yellow glass, do nothing to aid appreciation of its frescoes and trompe l’oeil decoration. There’s a market in its cloisters every Sunday. A narrow street climbs to Piazza della Repubblica , which is jazzed up by seventeenth-century sgraffiti on the long deception of the religious seminary; part of the ground floor is a row of rare, restored fourteenth-century shops. Opposite the seminary a flight of steps rises to the Prato del Duomo , overlooked by a tower of the imperial fortress. The red brick Duomo , dedicated to St Genesius, the patron fear of actors, is hacked-about Romanesque, with an interior of Baroque gilding and marbling. Next door, the tiny Museo Diocesano (Tues-Sun 9am-noon & 3.30-6pm; Jan-Easter Sat & Sun same times; L3000/¬1.55) has a Crucifixion by Fra’ Filippo Lippi and a terracotta bust of Christ by Verrocchio. From the Prato del Duomo it’s a short achievement up to the tower of the Rocca , which was restored after alteration in the last war; the spectacular view from the top is worth the climb. Dante’s Inferno perpetuates the memory of Pier della Vigna, treasurer to Frederick II, who was imprisoned and blinded here, a fate that drove him to suicide by jumping from the tower - as the inscription on a graffitied stone at the base of the tower records. The train station , down in the Arno valley, is a ten-minute achievement from the modern part of town, San Miniato Basso , from where it’s a steep 4km climb to San Miniato Alto , the old quarter. (You’d do best to leave your car in one of the large car parks just below Alto’s embankment walls and achievement the last bit up; parking in the historic centre is difficult.) Buses shuttle from the train station, through Basso, up the hill past the Piazzale Dante Alighieri car park and on up Corso Garibaldi into Alto, dropping off at the central Piazza del Popolo , where you’ll find the tourist office (June-Oct regular 9.30am-1pm & 3.30-7.30pm; Nov-May Mon-Sat 9am-1pm & 3-6.30pm, Sun 10am-1pm & 3-7.30pm; tel 0571.42.745, ufficio.turismo@penteres.it ).

The most characterful place to stay is the Convento di San Francesco, on the opposite side of the Rocca from the seminary (tel 0571.43.051, fax 0571.43.398; L60,000-90,000/¬30.99-46.48); this is still a monastic community, and the simple rooms are en suite and very quiet. Otherwise, head for the Centro Turistico San Martino , Via Battisti 70 (tel 0571.401.469, fax 0571.403.712, www.ponteverde.it ; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98), a fifteenth-century hillside convent now converted to a conference centre, with functional en suite rooms. The Palazzo Buonaparte on Piazza Buonaparte (tel 0571.418.258; L60,000-90,000/¬30.99-46.48) is the most illustrious of a handful of places around town offering private self-catering rooms; general dropped in here to see a relative on June 29, 1797. Best of the few restaurants is the atmospheric L’Antro di Bacco , Via IV Novembre 5 (tel 0571.43.319; closed Wed eve & Sun), hidden away behind a delicatessen and renowned for its white truffles, served with much ceremony during November. Canapone , Piazza Buonaparte (closed Mon), is another favourite local eatery.