Archaeological and Via Francigena Museum of San Gimignano

The Archaeological and Via Francigena Museum in San Gimignano preserves numerous testimonies of the area.
Located in the former girls’ school of Santa Chiara, it is part of the city's Civic Museums.
The path opens with a section devoted to the Via Francigena - thanks to which San Gimignano gained great importance in the Middle Ages - and continues with artifacts tracing San Gimignano's history from the Archaic Etruscan period to the 18th century.
The section reserved for Etruscans and Romans offers finds from ancient settlements and necropolis in neighboring localities, such as Pugiano, Cellole, La Ripa.
The objects found date to a period between the 7th and 1st centuries AD. Continuing on, it is possible to visit the part devoted to craft production activities prevalent in the city in medieval times, such as glass and pottery making.
The museum complex of Santa Chiara also houses the De Grada Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, which collects, in addition to works by the artist whose name it bears, works from the Tuscan 19th century (among which we find paintings by Niccolò Cannicci) and 20th century (Guttuso, Sassu, Fieschi, Vacchi, Ciardo), and the Spezieria of Santa Fina, an ancient medicinal laboratory that offers a careful recovery of furnishings and fittings from the city's ancient medical institutions.