The historical centre of San Gimignano (known as the city of beautiful towers) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 1990 in Banff, Alberta (Canada), because it has preserved its authentic medieval structure in terms of both architecture and urban planning.

San Gimignano is in Tuscany, 56 km south of Florence, in the northern tip of the province/district of Siena. The epithet "delle belle torri" (of the beautiful towers) is linked to the 14 noble towers that remained, which in ancient times were 72.