About thirty miles to the south west of Florence, in the midst of rolling hills dotted with olive groves and vineyards, stands a medieval hill-top town which has became famous the world over by virtue of its towers. There is nothing special per se about towers; towns the length and breadth of Italy had them in abundance. What is special is the fact that so many have survived.

In other Italian towns, over the course of time, most towers were pulled down or truncated to bring them in line with the height of the surrounding houses. In San Gimignano, to the eternal gratitude of most of its inhabitants, this did not happen to the same extent.

In the middle ages the towers would have been a common sight in every Italian town. Florence had in the region of one hundred. They were built by the leading families of a city primarily for defense, but also for prestige. Families competed with each other to see who could build the highest, in the face of attempts by the authorities to control this. You can see in the beautiful Piazza della Cisterna, how over the course of time the towers have been reduced in size.

During the golden age of the city, from the middle of the 12th to the middle of the 14th century, there were a grand total of 70 towers. By the end of the of the 16th century, after two centuries of economic decline and political subjugation to Florence, this number had been reduced by almost two thirds to 25. Today there are 13.

In spite of its name as the city 'dalle belle Torri', there is much more to San Gimignano than its 'beautiful towers'. It is also home to numerous important frescoes, which date from the 12th to the 15th centuries.

Don't let the plain facade of the 12th century Duomo, known as La Collegiata, put you off from entering. Once you step inside you will see that the interior is ablaze with colour. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the walls of the nave were frescoed, floor to ceiling, with scenes ranging from the Old and New Testament to the Last Judgement and the martyrdom of St Sebastian.

The frescoes have survived almost intact and show how the interiors of all churches would once have looked.

In 1475, the Florentine painter, Domenico Ghirlandaio arrived in San Gimignano to decorate the Chapel of Santa Fina, burial place of the city's very own saint, which sits at the end of the right aisle.

Serafina di Ciardi died in 1254 aged only 15 after a long paralysis. On the day of her death all the bells in the city rang out and a mantle of flowers covered her bed and the tops of the towers.

On the north side of the Piazza del Duomo stands the Palazzo del Popolo, which dates back to the 13th and14th centuries.

This was home to the city's government and is flanked by the Torre Grossa, which, at 54m, is the highest tower in the city. It is the only tower that is open to the public and is well worth the climb for the marvellous views you can enjoy from the top.

In the year 1300 the city fathers received a very important visitor in the shape of Dante. He addressed them, on a matter of politics not poetry, in the Sala del Consiglio, which was decorated a few years after his visit with a spectacular image of the Virgin in Majesty. This and a number of other frescoes and paintings today make up the Museo Civico. My favourite image is a rare domestic scene by Memmo di Filippuccio, which was painted in the 12th century.

Ghirlandaio was not the first Florentine Renaissance painter to work in San Gimignano. In 1464 Benozzo Gozzoli, fresh from his work in the Chapel of the Magi in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, arrived to fresco the choir in the church of San Agostino, which sits tucked inside the walls on the north side of the city. 

The area around the church is much quieter than the centre, which, in the summer, can become unbearably crowded.

Gozzoli was commissioned to paint the life of St Augustine, which he did in 18 vivid and detailed frescoes.

Below, on the left we see the saint, as a young man disembarking, at the Roman port of Ostia, while on the right he is shown leaving for Milan. There is a wonderful image of Rome in the top left hand corner.