One of the towers of San Gimignano has become a house-museum that tells the story of the town. It is the newest project of the Cilemmi Giachi family, owners of the Chigi tower-house, who have opened part of their home to guests.
The complex sits in the heart of San Gimignano, a UNESCO World Heritage town. It is built around a house of some 300 square meters, wrapped around one of the medieval towers that made the town famous. It once belonged to the Useppi family, and later passed to the Chigi Saracini family.
Storia
The towers of San Gimignano
San Gimignano became a free city in 1199, at the start of a long period of economic growth. Through the thirteenth century, a wealthy urban aristocracy expressed its standing through the building of tall stone towers — the symbol the town is still known for today. Seventy-two of these towers once crowned the skyline in the fourteenth century; only fourteen survive. Among them is the Chigi tower, the only one built in stone and brick, standing by the main castle, with views that still surprise every visitor.
La visita
A visit in two parts
The project blends tradition with multimedia storytelling, and the house itself becomes the narrator. The Cilemmi Giachi family built the visit around two distinct phases. In the first, guests are guided along a path that gives them the tools to understand San Gimignano — its history, its countryside, its people, and the story of the Useppi Chigi Saracini palace. In the second, visitors are free to explore the main floor on their own, stepping into the intimacy of a historic family: photo albums, letters, paintings and objects with no barriers between them. There is no set pace — guests can stop to read, or simply look, choosing what to see as the house tells the story of one of the most important families of San Gimignano, one with deep ties to the art world and to poetry.
The surprise comes as soon as you step into the house-tower: a sense of continuity, of the many lives that shaped this home around the ancient dominant city. It is one of the few chances, beyond admiring the extraordinary facades from outside, to see interiors that still speak with the outside world. From the windows, the view opens onto the valley, a reminder of how closely the family's life was tied to the landscape beyond the walls — through the family's relationship with rural entrepreneurship and, more broadly, their attachment to the land.
The ultimate goal is to encourage the combination of Beauty and History. This project is dedicated to those who want to fully understand the significance of the beauty they meet, or who are simply curious and willing to spend a little time in something gentle, yet exciting and engaging.
La famiglia
From the Useppi to the Chigi Saracini
Over the years, the family's historical heritage has grown alongside investments in vineyard land, aimed at producing high-quality wine sold in Italy and abroad.
The Giachi-Cilemmi family has owned the Chigi tower in San Gimignano for many years.
The Chigi tower is one of the fourteen historic towers of San Gimignano, standing in Piazza del Duomo. It is not the tallest, but it is one of the most beautiful in the town. It was built in 1280 and belonged to the Useppi Chigi family.
The first three floors are faced in well-squared stone, opening onto low-arched windows. The main portal on the first floor is reached by a staircase — a legacy of medieval times, when families preferred to withdraw and sleep safely above street level, pulling up access at night. On the second floor, a narrow, elongated window rests on a shelf beneath a curved arch.
Medieval buildings flank the tower, including one to its left of particular value, with fine mullioned windows.
The Useppi were powerful citizens of Siena, owners of many castles. In 1214 they settled in San Gimignano, moving into the palace with the Useppi tower, next to the Palazzo del Podestà, on the beautiful Piazza del Duomo.
They served as politicians at the court of King Ladislao of Hungary and Bohemia, were Knights of the Order of the Dragon, and diplomats at the court of Emperor Ferdinand III. They were also ambassadors of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany under Ferdinand II.
When the family line died out, ownership of the Useppi properties passed to the noble Chigi Saracini family of Siena. Its last representative, Count Guido Chigi Saracini, upheld the virtues of his ancestors as a patron of the fine arts.
The Useppi palace still holds paintings, tapestries and sculptures of great artistic value. It is a striking example of medieval architecture, with an elegant facade shaped by the influences of Siena and Pisa. Anyone visiting San Gimignano should not miss the Palazzo Useppi.
Dentro le mura
A time that has not passed
Step through the courtyard and the noise of the streets and alleys falls away — you feel as if you have entered another world. Visiting the Chigi Useppi tower, you sense that time has stood still here. It is easy to imagine the splendor of medieval feasts, with ladies in magnificent Florentine brocade gowns, their long hair adorned with pearls and jewels, and knights competing with long spears on mighty steeds in spectacular duels across the main squares.
That same sense of past glory lingers along the rooms of the building and in its beautiful mullioned windows, tall and elegant, showing the skill of San Gimignano's craftsmen in drawing fine decoration from simple materials like brick and Carrara marble. The arches of the mullioned windows clearly echo Sienese architecture.
The tower itself, austere and soaring, has one side embellished with narrow arched windows — originally small openings, "porticciole," used to reach a wooden balcony resting on corbels. Here the ladies of the house used to hang tapestries during visits from prominent figures: Dante Alighieri, Lorenzo de' Medici, the Florentine secretary Machiavelli at the Medici court, the fiery Dominican preacher Girolamo Savonarola, and celebrated Florentine artists such as Domenico Ghirlandaio and Benozzo Gozzoli, among many others who once passed through San Gimignano.
San Gimignano
A small jewel of Tuscany
The towers alone tell the story of San Gimignano's face, but so do the gates, the springs, the cisterns, the old winding cobbled streets, and the houses and tower-houses of 1200 and 1300. If people walked these streets again in their traditional dress, the climate of medieval life would feel perfectly rebuilt.
This is San Gimignano: medieval charm and beauty, the unchanged character of every house and every street, time that seems to have stopped on every wall and every corner — a small but precious jewel of Tuscany, known the world over.
The town takes its name from the holy Bishop of Modena, Gimignano, said to have saved it from barbarian hordes. Its growth, both in population and trade, was helped by its position along the Via Francigena, or Via Romea, the famous road linking Rome to the great trading centers of Europe from the year 990.
The Cilemmi Giachi family still welcomes guests into the Chigi tower today — a home that has never stopped being lived in.
FAQ
What does a visit to the Chigi tower-house include?
The visit has two parts: a guided path explaining the history of San Gimignano, followed by free time to explore the main floor on your own.
When was the Chigi tower built?
The Chigi tower was built in 1280 and belonged to the Useppi Chigi family.
How many of San Gimignano's medieval towers still survive today?
Seventy-two towers once crowned the skyline in the fourteenth century, but only fourteen survive today.
How large is the house built around the Chigi tower?
The house is built around some 300 square meters, wrapped around one of the medieval towers that made the town famous.
Where is the Chigi tower located?
The Chigi tower stands in Piazza del Duomo in the heart of San Gimignano, next to the Palazzo del Podestà.
