Chiesa di Sant'Agostino

San Gimignano


This late-13th-century church is best known for Benozzo Gozzoli's charming fresco cycle (1464–65) illustrating the life of St Augustine. You'll find it in the choir behind the altar. Gozzoli also painted the fresco featuring San Sebastian on the north wall, which shows the saint protecting the citizens of San Gimignano during the 1464 plague. What makes the image highly unusual is that he's helped by a bare-breasted Virgin Mary; this symbolises her maternal love for humanity.

Other notable artworks include Lippo Memmi's Madonna and Child with Archangel Michael and St John the Baptist (1317), said to be the oldest fresco in the town. On Sundays at 11am an English-language mass is celebrated in a chapel off the cloister.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby San Gimignano attractions

1. Polo Museale Santa Chiara

0.07 MILES

There are three museums in this complex. The ground floor is home to a part-reconstructed 15th- to 18th-century pharmacy known as the Speziera di Santa…

2. Rocca di Montestaffoli

0.2 MILES

The crumbling shell of the town's 14th-century fortress commands views across the valley and has a small playground and plenty of space to picnic in. It's…

4. Collegiata

0.22 MILES

Parts of San Gimignano's Romanesque cathedral were built in the second half of the 11th century, but its remarkably vivid frescoes, depicting episodes…

6. Palazzo Comunale

0.23 MILES

The 13th-century Palazzo Comunale has always been the centre of San Gimignano's local government; its magnificently frescoed Sala di Dante is where the…

7. Museo d'Arte Sacra

0.23 MILES

Works of medieval religious art from San Gimignano's key churches are on display in this modest museum. Particularly beautiful items made from precious…

8. San Gimignano del 1300

0.26 MILES

Youngsters love this handmade ceramic re-creation of the medieval city, complete with houses, streets, towers and people as they would have looked in 1300…