On the backside of San Gimignano

On the backside of San Gimignano, the side reserved for slow travel, you could run into Emilio who believes his beautiful Tuscany was the birthplace of Italian language and culture.

Emilio who walks in the footprints of his mother and grandmother carrying laundry along the remote stone road

 to the crystal clear waters of Medieval Fontana (fountain);

washing clothes  among stone and brick pillars and pools.

Be sure to ask him about the hidden staircase below the fontana where one can go to share pain with a blue tile goddess who mourns in the dank and dark wall behind a tiny pool.