Italy Blog #45: Monteriggioni - another cool Medieval Town!

The Main street of Monteriggioni

In this 45th blog about our adventures in Italy back in May of this year, we'll take you to another cool, small medieval town that has apparently become famous in video games!

One of the 2 main "portals" or gates

ABOUT THE TOWN: Monteriggioni is a township or "comune" in the province of Siena in the Italian region Tuscany. It is another town built on a hill as a fortress, and is surrounded by walls. Today there are a lot of shops along the main streets. It was built by the Sienese in 1214–19 as a front line in their wars against Florence.

The other main gate

WALLS, TOWERS AND GATES - The roughly circular walls are about1,870 feet (570 meters) long and go around the natural contours of the big hill. The wall was built during the same 5 year period that town was developed.There are also 14 towers and 2 big gates called "portals."  One gate, the Porta Fiorentina opens toward Florence to the north, and the other, the Porta Romana, faces Rome to the south. The main street within the walls connects the two gates in a roughly straight line. The main piazza (square) or the Piazza Roma, is dominated by a Romanesque church with a simple, plain façade.

Rob and Tom stop for a picture in Monteriggiano

Tom in front of a medieval church still standing in the walled town

FEATURED IN TODAY'S VIDEO GAMES! The town is architecturally and culturally significant; it hosts several piazzas, and is referenced in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, as well as a playable locale in Ubisoft's video game installments Assassin's Creed II and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

ANOTHER LINK TO DANTE'S INFERNO- As we heard in Florence, Dante's famous poem about the Inferno was all over the place! - Even this town has a link to the poem. In case you don't know about the Divine Comedy, here's some background. Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno tells the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil.  As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin. 

A muscular demon in Dante's inferno

NEXT: A LOOK AT FLORENCE FROM A DISTANCE