Tuscany's Little Countryside Gem.

- November 10, 2017

Templars are terrifying.

Okay, I know I’ve said I scare easy in the past, but for real, the Templar Knights are frightening to look at.

This post, however, is not about the Templars.

It’s about a quiet, hardly known fortress named Monteriggioni.

A little gem nicely tucked away into the hills of the Tuscan countryside in the Province of Siena, Monteriggioni was built between 1213-1219 by the Sienese as a defense against Florentine invasions into Siena. It’s location on top of a hill made it easy to catch approaching armies and its high walls made it a hard breach for said armies.

Monteriggioni was the first of 4 stops on a day trip we went on with a travel company called Ciao Florence. The other 3 places were Siena, San Gimignano and a Tuscan vineyard for some Chianti wine-tasting. It was one of the first places we went to outside of Florence. It was also one of our first group tours and, hands down, one of the best. Our tour guide Mario was funny, charming and so Italian. He called the towers of San Gimignano, the Manhattan of Italy.

While Monteriggioni was a place I didn’t know much about, it was on Harry’s list of places to see, plucked and plotted there by his curiosity with its history and his knowledge of Assassin’s Creed -that's why this town had Templar armor stacked up and chilling as a tourist attraction because of Monteriggioni's mention in the video game.

Monteriggioni is one of those hauntingly beautiful little towns that you fall in love with, from the minute you set foot into the place. Then again, I’d never actually set foot into any other small Tuscan towns, but it was a day of firsts.

There are two entrances into the city, one called the Porta Romana as it faces towards Rome in the south and the other one called Porta Fiorentina as it looks towards Florence in the north. The rest of the circular town is walled with 14 towers that go all around the town’s walls at regular intervals.

When I say Monteriggioni is small, I’m not kidding. The main piazza called Piazza Roma is a tiny square that vaunts a restaurant, a well, and a little church. Once past the center, the rest of the town is decorated with a few Renaissance houses with tiny courtyards here and there, some that are now turned into quaint little B&B’s or souvenir shops.

There are also a couple of templar museums built into these houses for the Assassin’s Creed fan. That’s where my Templar terror was born.

And that’s it. That’s all there is to this town. But the authentic Tuscan feeling that it emits, with its structure and history is enough to help you step out of your own reality and into medieval Tuscany.

Remember how I said it was a fortress meant to fend off and withstand attacks from the Florentines and other armies? Well, it did that and so much more. The entire town’s structure was built to echo that purpose.