Our Blog - Tuscany 2024 Trip - Monteriggioni, Italy

The tiny walled medieval town of Monteriggioni sits atop a hill, with a set of well-preserved ancient buildings and almost-fully-intact walls. The town is located along the Via Francigena, a pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome. It is a 3,200 km route that dates back to 990 AD, when Sigeric, the archbishop of Canterbury, traveled from Canterbury to Rome. He documented all 79 stages of his journey, which then became the origins of this walking route.

A few scenes from the movie "Gladiator" were filmed in the nearby countryside. From what I can find, it was the scenes of his home in Spain where his wife and son get killed. Not sure why they didn't film it in Spain :-)

There are two gates to enter the city walls, which are the main attraction here. The walls were built between 1212 and 1219, then reinforced in 1270, a necessary step at that time to protect the village from Florentine attacks. The city walls were so famous that they were mentioned in Dante's "Inferno", where Dante compares the giants placed between the 8th and 9th circle of Hell to its two tall towers:

for as, on its round wall, Montereggione is crowned with towers, so there towered here, above the bank that runs around the pit, with half their bulk, the terrifying giants, whom Jove still menaces from Heaven when he sends his bolts of thunder down upon them.

The city walls encircle the town with 2 gates and 14 towers. They all have a square base and are in fairly good condition. While you can pay to walk around portions, we decided to skip that part.

There is basically one main square, Piazza Roma, and then a few other little roads, lined with old buildings. On the square is the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta, which was built in 1213, the same year that the town was founded. The bell tower was added in the 18th century.

Out to the other side of town to the only other gate, a much smaller one. And then just a generic view of some of the buildings.