Submitted by Randy Short on the 2016 spring semester program in Tuscany, Italy…
San Gimignano was a beautiful place for us to explore. After being in Tuscany for a while, we know that towers symbolize a lot more than just their impressive height. In Tuscany, rich families would build their towers very high, in order to protect themselves if invaders took over the city. It became a symbol of stature, whoever had the highest tower was the most important. It became so tense, that Florence actually set a height limit for the city and would lob off the tops of towers in order to stop this practice. In San Gimignano, we get the most well-preserved towers of any Tuscan town, so we get to take in their beauty and how they tower over the city. It is a simple reminder of the family’s legacy and power. Although we project power differently from them now, it is a good lesson that I have applied to my Leadership 200 course.
Monteriggioni was a fun, tiny little Tuscan town. While it takes five minutes to walk across, there are some fun reminders of this Medieval Tuscan town. The walls are fully intact, and you can walk along them and see the beautiful countryside. You can see the pilgrim route that passed through the city that had pious members of the Church adventure past Canterbury on their way to Rome. There was also a nice Medieval museum. It was fun because I remember this location in a video game I used to play, and I got to see what was actually real and what was hyped-up to make it more interesting. While the Monteriggioni video game did bring more people in, it also stirred the excitement and tourism industry for this sleepy town.
