Europe 2007 Part 45 Leaving San Gimignano
4,058 views · Published 30 March 2007 · 5:40 · Indexed 31 October 2026
Channel: Alan Heath · 2007 · Travel & Events
Evening and it is time to leave San Gimignano. The word 'campanelismo' in Italian refers to the competition between towns to build ever higher clock towers. In San Gimignano this procedure was taken to extremes as individual families sought to built towers as high as they could in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Once around 20 towers stood, today there are still 13 with the highest being 54 metres in height. San Gimignano was founded around 2,300 years ago by the Etruscans. In the tenth century CE it took the name of its bishop Saint Geminianus who had allegedly successful defended the town from Attila the Hun some 500 years earlier. However the town rose to fame as a stopping point on the medieval tourist route leading to Rome called the via Francigena. This was further added by trade largely in agricultural products.It achieved independence from the Bishops of Volterra in 1199 although disputes betweent Guelphs and Ghibellines disturbed the peace. Its most famous visit occured on 8 May 1300 when Dante Alighieri called as the ambassador of the Guelph League in Tuscany.The black plague finished the town's prosperity when it killed a large amount of people in 1348. (One third of the population of Europe were killed by the disease.) Five years later it was annexed by Florence. This is a wonderful place to visit and it is a pity that my visit occured so late in the day. My channel on you tube : http://www.youtube.com/alanheath is one of the most prolific from Poland, although unfortunately not the most visited. I have produced a number of films, most in English but also in Polish, French, Italian, Spanish and the occassional hint of German and Hebrew. My big interest in life is travel and history but I have also placed films on other subjects There are a number of films here on the packaging industry. This is because I am the publisher of Central and Eastern European Packaging -- http://www.ceepackaging.com - the international platform for the packaging industry in this region focussing on the latest innovations, trends, design, branding, legislation and environmental issues with in-depth profiles of major industry achievers. Most people may think packaging pretty boring but it possibly effects your life more than you really imagine! In 1997 I founded Polish Business News http://www.pbn.com.pl .There are a number of business related films here and I intend to do many more on CRM (customer relations management). My blog can be found via http://www.ceepackaging.com and http://www.pbn.com.pl and contains background information and more details of many of my films. This information is in English. I have also a second blog on the site http://www.navigeo.net/blog/alan-heath-blog . This site has been recently started by a friend and I think it will soon be one of the leading travel sites in Poland, if not Central Europe. It contains additional information about some of the places and events shown in these films but most of that is in Polish.
