Via San Giovanni (San Giovanni Street), San Gimignano

The San Giovanni Street runs through the center of San Gimignano, from the Cistern Square (Piazza della Cisterna) to the Saint John's Gate (Porta San Giovanni). The street was created when the San Giovanni area was still outside the city walls in 1214. The ancient city gate still exists as the Becci Arch (Arco dei Becci), a gateway to the Cistern Square.

Saint John's Gate opens on Court of the Martyrs of Montemaggio (Piazzale dei Montemaggio), the former site of the Convent of Saint Francis. San Giovanni Street is the main pedestrian street of San Gimignano. Passing through the old wall via the Saint John's Gate, one is, as if by magic, shifted to an ancient time and place.

A walk through the lanes and alleys of the area doesn't take very long. The Old City is only 2,300 feet long north and south and 1,150 feet "crosstown." Crowded with towers along the way, it is like a medieval Manhattan. With all the things to see, the walk along San Giovanni Street should take only about twenty minutes.

On both sides of the street are semi-detached houses of stone, stone and brick towers, tower houses, churches, hospices for pilgrims and palaces for nobility. Many of these are given over to commercial uses and tourism.