Pienza and San Gimignano

First stop, the hilltop town of Pienza. Here in the piazza, the town’s church.

Barrel vaults!

The piazza in Pienza is actually a trapezoid, which...

...opens up onto this beautiful view of the Tuscan countryside.

I saw an open door in the town municipal building. I went in, climbed a couple of stairs and found myself in the town council room and managed to open a window.

Stop 2 of the first day was the famous town of towers San Gimignano.

Here in one of the churches in town with both a classical greek façade and gothic basilica apse juxtaposed next to each other. The fact that I recognized this as strange is a testament to art history class!

I just thought this picture was cool. It’s springtime in Italy and that means time to prune the olive trees. However, because of the natural oils, the branches don’t decompose quickly, so burning is the popular option.

I’ll be coming back to San Gimignano with my parents in June, so more pictures to come at that point.