.San Gimignano - Museum

Two flights of stairs and a landing dating back to 1323 lead to the Museum.
Dante Hall
The first hall on the second floor is called Dante's Hall for the reason that Alighieri spoke from here on the 8th of May 1300 aiming to rekindle the Guelph ideals. The wall facing the windows is covered with a large fresco by Lippo Memmi of Siena. The fresco, signed and dated 1317, represents Our Lady on the throne and was ordered by the Sienese Podesta Nello dei Tolomei who is portrayed at the feet of the Madonna and stands out among twenty-seven personages. Because of the richness of gold, the harmonious composition of colours, the religious elegance of figures, the hieratic solemnity of the assembly, this painting was named «Maesta» (majesty) like that by Simone Martini in the Town Hall of Siena.
The fresco was partially retouched by Benozzo Gozzoli in 1416 on the occasion of the opening of the two Renaissance doors, when St. Francis and St. Ludovic (right) and St. Anthony (left) were completely repainted. On the back wall and around, hunting scenes and people paying homage to Charles II of Anjou, painted by Azzo da Siena in 1292. Dante admired these paintings. On the place once occupied by the Podesta an inscription:

"Judge
Listen to everybody's proposal
answer graciously and do justice" (1).

From Dante's Hall, through the left door, we reach the hall of secret assemblies or Priors Hall. Note the wooden benches carved in 1473 and a glass urn containing St. Bartholus, a work by Giovanni Gonnelli called «the blind man of Gambassi>> (16th century).
From this hall we go to that where precious terracotta pots once in the pharmacy of St. Fina are kept.
Chapel of the Podesta
Coming out from Dante's Hall and going up a flight of stairs, we see on the left the Podesta's chapel, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Coming in, on the left we see:
. Madonna with Child and figures of Saints, by Domenico Mainardi from San Gimignano (second half of the 15th century).
. Pieta, a detached fresco ascribed to the school of Benoz-zo Gozzoli.
. Crucifix with St. Francis and St. Jerome, detached fresco ascribed to the school of Benozzo Gozzoli.
. Our Lady with the Child and the Saints Justus and Thomas, a work by the painter Pier Francesco called «Floren-tine priest», dated 1476.
. The Holy Trinity by the same painter.
. Our Lady with the Child, St. Bartholomew and St. Anthony by Pier Francesco (1490).
. Two tondi by Filippino Lippi. This work was ordered to the painter (son of Filippo Lippi and pupil of Botticelli) on the 9 January 1482.
. Madonna in glory, St. Gregory and St. Benedict by Bernardo di Betto called Pinturicchio (1512). He had this nickname because of his poor physical constitution («un pinturicchio, sordicchio e brutticchio» = a little painter, a little deaf and a little ugly). The picture was painted for the Monastery of Monteoliveto Minore (a beautiful complex nearby San Gimignano, deserving a visit).
. Madonna with the Child and two adoring Angels, by Barto-lomeo di Giovanni, end of the 15th century.
. Madonna with the Child, St. Nicholas of Tolentino, St. Michael Archangel, St. Augustine, St. Lucy, by Vincenzo Ta-magni of San Gimignano (first half of the 16th century).
. Pieta and events of the passion, school of Neri di Bicci, 15th century.
. Madonna with the Child by Neri di Bicci.
. Crucifixion with figures, by an unknown painter from Siena, 13th century.
Second Room
. St Julian, St. Antony Abbot, St. Martin, by an unknown Florentine painter (1419).
. St. Bartholomew and events of his life (1401) by Lorenzo di Niccolo Gerini.
. Events of St. Fina by the same author. They are painted on the doors of the urn which kept the relics of the Saint before the building of her chapel in the Cathedral. It is a nice work and shows the most famous events in the life of the Saint of the violets, of whom it is a valid iconographic gallery. Front side: Pope Gregory the Great, St. Fina with violets and the town in her hands. Right door, above: St. Fina ill is nursed by her mother while a relative tries to drive out the rats infesting her couch. Below: the devil flings St. Fi-na's mother out of the stairs, but she is unharmed. On the left door: procession to the corpse of St. Fina laid out on an oak bed bloomed miraculously with yellow violets. Below: funeral of the Saint and cure of the paralysed hand of her nurse Beldia. On the back: four miracles of the Saint.
. recovery of a possessed person (the devil comes out of his mouth).
. rescue of a brick-layer fallen from the roof.
. rescue of a shipwrecked man.
. putting out of a fire in the town by a dress of the Saint.
. Our Lady of the Annunciation by an unknown author (beginning of the 15th century).
. Madonna with the Child by Lorenzo di Niccolo Gerini.
. Sacred image by the Florentine painter Pseudo Ambrogio di Baldese (beginning of the 15th century).
. Sacred image by an unknown Florentine painter (15th century).
. Sacred image by an unknown Sienese painter (15th century).
Third Room (from the right)
. Cross painted and shaped by un unknown Florentine artist (first half of the 15th century).
. Madonna with the Child and figures of Saints by Guido da Siena. The painting was carried to San Gimignano in 1280 when the Convent of St. Augustine was built.
. Female heads, fragment of a fresco by Bartolo di Fredi (half of the 14th century).
. Madonna with the Child by Vincenzo Tamagni.
. Madonna with the Child by an unknown Sienese painter (13th century).
. The Bishop of San Gimignano and events of his life, by Taddeo di Bartolo (1363-1422).
. Chest for keeping the wedding dowry.
. Assumption with St. John Evangelist, St. Bernard, St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Bartholomew, by Niccold Ta-gliacci, a painter from Siena (first half of the 14th century).
. Madonna with the Child, St. Peter, St. John Evangelist, St. Michael, St. Francis, St. Chiara, by an unknown author.
. Crucifixion and various figures, by an unknown Sienese painter (end of the 13th century).
. Room of the Podesta
Coming out from the art gallery, on the stair landing is the Room of the Podesta. Built at the beginning of the 14th century, it was frescoed with erotic scenes by the painter Azzo.
Those who like it, can go up to the Big Tower to admire the most beautiful panorama of the Tuscan countryside.