Getting married in San Gimignano

Most Tuscan comuni charge on one distinction: do you live here or not. San Gimignano charges on two — residency and citizenship.

In the Sala di Dante, a foreign couple pays €1,100 where a non-resident Italian couple pays €400. In the Cortile del Palazzo comunale, it is €1,300 against €500.

So for a foreign couple San Gimignano is more expensive than Lucca, where Palazzo Orsetti starts at €480. For an Italian couple from elsewhere in the country, it is the other way round. We quote the foreign rate throughout this site, because it is the one our readers actually pay.

We are not aware of another Tuscan comune that prices this way, and it is worth knowing before you compare towns on price alone. The full comparison is in our cost guide.

San Gimignano receives an enormous number of day visitors relative to its size. Coaches arrive in the morning, the main street is shoulder to shoulder by midday, and by seven in the evening most of it has gone.

That rhythm is an argument for the town rather than against it. A late-afternoon ceremony and an evening reception happen in a town that has largely emptied, with the towers lit and the streets quiet. A midday ceremony happens in a crowd.

Plan the day around the emptying rather than ignoring it, and the crowds become someone else's problem.

This is a small town inside walls. The consequences are consistent: limited accommodation, limited parking, limited space for a large party, and suppliers who mostly travel in from Florence or Siena.

For a wedding of twenty or thirty it is close to perfect. For a hundred it becomes a logistics exercise — guests spread across several towns, coaches in and out, and an evening that ends when the town says so.

If your list is large, a property in the countryside nearby with San Gimignano as a backdrop tends to work better than the town itself.

There is no airport and no railway station in the town. Florence and Pisa are the arrival points, and the last leg is a drive through the hills of the Val d'Elsa.

Inside the walls, vehicle access is restricted as it is in every Tuscan historic centre, and parking is outside the gates — which means a walk uphill on stone for every guest arriving by car. Say so in advance, particularly to older guests.

The town sits roughly between Florence and Siena, which makes it a practical base for guests who want to see both.

The regional pattern holds — driest and hottest in July and August, most comfortable in May and early June, wetter through September and October. Our best months guide has the numbers.

The local variable is visitor pressure rather than weather. High summer brings the largest crowds to a town with narrow streets and little shade; the shoulder months give you the same towers with fewer people in the photographs.

The comune's rooms — the Sala di Dante and the Cortile del Palazzo comunale — for the ceremony, at the fees above.

Small historic venues within the walls, suited to dinners rather than large parties.

Agriturismi and estates in the surrounding countryside, which is where most weddings here actually take place, with the town as the backdrop and the ceremony setting.

Vineyard properties in the Vernaccia growing area immediately around the town.

The venues guide covers what to ask, and Chianti is the neighbouring area worth comparing against.