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Walls of Monteriggioni

A 13th-century Sienese ring of walls with fourteen towers, praised by Dante, around a tiny hilltop village.

  • Monteriggioni
  • Castle
Plan your visit
Where
Monteriggioni
Best for
Fourteen towers
Allow
1 hr 15 min
Tickets
From €5
Checked September 2026

Siena raised this ring of walls between 1213 and 1219 to guard its northern frontier against Florence, and the circuit of about 570 meters still runs almost unbroken around the hilltop. Dante compared its towers to the giants standing in the pit of the Inferno. Fourteen square towers stud the perimeter, and two gates, Porta Fiorentina and Porta Romana, still admit visitors into the tiny borgo inside. The south walkway along the ramparts lets you look over the rooftops toward the Chianti hills and the Via Francigena, and on clear days to the towers of San Gimignano. The village is small enough to see in an hour.

The fortification records Siena’s north-eastern frontier strategy toward Florence. Its apparent medieval fabric includes documented later transformations and tower reconstruction, so the circuit, gates, towers, borgo and museum route need separate source-backed relationships.

Monteriggioni from above, a ring of walls and towers around a small village among olive groves
From above the circuit is almost unbroken, with the village tucked inside and olive groves all around.
Sources and citations (2)
  1. Comune di MonteriggioniStoriaCastle and circuit historyRead source
  2. SIAS, Archivio di Stato di Siena, Ministero della CulturaComunità di Monteriggioni1214 frontier outpostRead source

Look closer

The rampart walkway on the walls of Monteriggioni, above olive trees and the Chianti hills
The rampart walkwayA walkway along the top of the wall looks over olive trees and the rolling hills beyond.
A simple round-arched doorway opens in the stone wall of Santa Maria Assunta.
The church doorwayA simple round-arched doorway opens in the stone wall of Santa Maria Assunta.
A gate tower in the walls of Monteriggioni with visitors walking through the pointed arch
The gate towerEach gate sits at the foot of a square tower, a sturdy pointed arch in the old wall.

Four things worth finding

If you see nothing else, see these.

  1. The rampart walkway

    Two reconstructed stretches of the wall walk let you climb up and look over the roofs and the Chianti hills, which is the reason to come.South side of the circuit, reached from the gate

  2. Porta Franca and Porta di SottoSienese builders, 13th century

    Each gate sits at the foot of a tower: Porta Franca faces Siena and the Via Francigena, Porta di Sotto faces Florence, the rival the walls were built against.The two gates of the circuit

  3. Piazza Roma and Santa Maria Assunta

    A small Romanesque-Gothic church on a square barely bigger than a courtyard, with a few shops and cafés: the entire village in one glance.The piazza at the center of the village

  4. The towers Dante called giantsDante, Inferno XXXI

    Walk around the outside of the circuit first and count the towers rising from the wall, the image Dante used for the giants ringing the last pit of Hell.Seen from outside the walls, on the approach

Plan your visit

Everything you need before you go.

Tickets
From €5
Booking
No booking needed
Time needed
1 hr 15 min
Best time
Weekday mornings, before tour buses arrive from San Gimignano or Siena
Getting there
Monteriggioni sits just off the Siena-Florence road (SS2 Cassia) on the way to San Gimignano; buses from Siena stop at the village, and there is a car park just outside the walls.
Accessibility
The borgo’s streets are flat cobblestone and manageable for most visitors, but the rampart walkway is reached by stairs and is not wheelchair accessible.

One ticket covers the rampart walkway, the Monteriggioni in Arme exhibit and the archaeological museum at Abbadia Isola. Reduced €3.50 for over-65s, TCI members and pilgrims; free under 8. Walking through the village is free. Last updated September 2026. Prices change, so check the official site before you go.

Walk the low road around the base of the walls for the view of the towers together; it works better than the piazza inside, which is only the center of a very small village.

Official website
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Good to know

How long should you spend at the walls of Monteriggioni?

About an hour and a quarter is plenty: a lap of the village, a climb on the walls and a coffee in the piazza. Stretch it to two hours if you add lunch or a walk along the Via Francigena outside.

Is Monteriggioni worth visiting?

Yes, if you take it for what it is: a perfectly preserved little walled village, not a museum of big sights. It works best as a stop between Siena and San Gimignano or Florence, ideally early or late when the tour buses are gone.

Can you see Monteriggioni and Siena in one day?

Easily. Monteriggioni is a short hop from Siena and needs only an hour or so, so it fits comfortably into a day that also includes Siena’s center or a Chianti lunch.

More to see nearby

Same city first, then the nearest across the region.

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