San Gimignano eats and drinks its own history: Vernaccia, the first Italian wine to earn DOC status in 1966, has been poured here for seven centuries — Dante already name-checked it — and PDO saffron coloured medieval trade as much as painters' canvases. Few Italian tables carry so ancient an identity card.
In the town's wine shops Vernaccia is tasted facing the very hills that produce it; saffron perfumes risottos and pastries in the bakeries. And the prize-winning gelato on Piazza della Cisterna has turned a sweet stop into an obligatory station.