The crenellated profile of the historic center of San Gimignano is one, among many, of the most famous postcards that Tuscany has managed to imprint in the memory of the countless tourists who visit this area every year. However, for many icons, commercial success, especially in the capitalist affirmation of modernity translated into predatory and rapid cultural consumption, has emptied the aesthetics of the landscape as if scaffolding were supporting the stone monuments, erected through centuries of effort, to conceal behind the scenes, fiction, and emptiness. Fortunately, this does not happen for the beautiful San Gimignano. Just widen your gaze and embrace with your eyes the landscape all around. The hills that surround the ancient village are a succession of cultivated fields, woods, and olive groves. Respectful anthropic spaces that, in turn, surround what for centuries has been the activity that unites and grows the real community of San Gimignano: viticulture.
The relationship between viticulture and San Gimignano is symbiotic. The name of the current designation reveals the inseparable bond between the traditional Tuscan grape variety and its chosen place. Throughout the timeline, the union between wine and the city has shared the alternating events that history bestows upon men and things. In the Middle Ages, when San Gimignano was a hub of trades and commerce along to Via Francigena, the city’s independent growth took place, leading to a magnificent architectural development, whose evident ostentation of wealth is still visible today in the thirteen towers that make the center’s appearance unique in the world. In the 14th century, there were 72 towers attesting to unprecedented wealth. The gradual decline linked to the consequences of the plague in 1348 did not halt the city’s cultural growth, which, in the Renaissance, led it to safeguard an artistic heritage of incredible historical and artistic value. In parallel with its walls, Vernaccia, between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is one of the most important wines in Europe. It was found on the tables of wealthy merchants and powerful figures of the time such as Lorenzo de’ Medici, Ludovico il Moro, Pope Paul III Farnese, and Cosimo I. Its fame was celebrated over two centuries by the greatest artists and literati, from Dante to Francesco Redi. In the subsequent centuries, the events of San Gimignano and its wine were overshadowed by other occurrences and different historical scenarios, only to regain prominence in the twentieth century.
There are two symbolic dates, in modern times, that decree the excellence of the intertwining relationship between wine and place of origin. The first is 1966 when Vernaccia di San Gimignano was recognized as the first Controlled Designation of Origin (DOC) wine, the first white wine, even in Italy. The second is 1990, the year in which the historic center was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. The times of merchants and artists may seem distant, but thanks to its history, San Gimignano has become a renewed center of agricultural and touristic quality capable of attracting wine and culture enthusiasts.
The Consortium for the Protection of the wine Vernaccia di San Gimignano, founded in 1972, aims not only to safeguard the quality of winemaking production, but also to make the wine, together with the entire community and practices that originate from it, a shared heritage, a culture to be placed alongside the monuments and artistic assets preserved by the towered city. Its fundamental role has been to channel the aspirations of producers and involve them in a cultural growth, in addition to agronomic and oenological development.
The landscape that can be admired today confirms the success of the journey taken in just over fifty years. The numbers demonstrate it. The production area of the Designations of Origin (Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG and San Gimignano DOC) falls entirely within the municipality of San Gimignano, which extends for about 13,800 hectares. Of these, almost half is destined for agricultural use, indicating a great vitality in agronomic practices. The fields are used for olive groves, arable land, and vineyards. The latter cover about 2,000 hectares, entirely on hills, mostly derived from a geological history dating back from 7 to 2 million years ago. These are pliocene matrices with yellow sands and sandy clays rich in limestone inserts and fossil shells. Of the entire vineyard extension, the part dedicated to DOCG Vernaccia is about 750 hectares. The grape variety has the prismatic characteristic of reflecting the soil of origin. It gives the wines a nice freshness if the plant roots in predominantly clay-limestone soils, echoing savory flavors if the geological base is rich in sand and shells.
A unique wine, a great white in a land of reds.
Setting aside a few industrial attempts, today it is the viticultural and human landscape that brings vitality to the beauty of the ancient historic center. It is within this community of producers that one can glimpse the future of the territory. The new generations have been able to preserve the great viticultural tradition and its international recognition by adapting it into a new craftsmanship. On one hand, the widespread organic approach has enhanced the beauty of an unparalleled landscape, on the other hand, sensitive viticulture has led to original and identity-driven wines. Therefore, the profile of the towers that can be admired is not just a sterile remnant of the past but is a living symbol of a community of farmers and artisans who have kept alive the stones built over the centuries and have made San Gimignano an essential crossroads of cultural contaminations even today.
