San Gimignano

San Gimignano is one of the many cities in Tuscany. It is characterized by tall towers that resemble skyscrapers which gave it the nickname of "Medieval Manhattan". It was essentially a medieval fortress with numerous watch towers and monasteries. The look of San Gimignano resembles that of the first game. It is described as the best place to do free running in Assassin's Creed II because of the similar heights of the buildings. San Gimignano contains one Assassin's Tomb, which is located inside the Torre Grossa.

Conspirators
Ezio traveled to San Gimignano to spy on a secret Templar meeting and to kill Vieri de' Pazzi with the help of his uncle's mercenaries. Present at this meeting were Rodrigo Borgia, Francesco de' Pazzi, Jacopo de' Pazzi and Vieri de' Pazzi, and they discussed the plot to wipe out the Medici dynasty. Ezio soon, using the help of mercenaries, dueled with Vieri and assassinated him, even though Vieri gave Ezio no answers, he was closer to avenging his family.

Ezio was later instructed by Lorenzo de' Medici to find and kill all of the remaining people who played a major role in the Pazzi Conspiracy. Once Ezio arrives, he uses his uncle's mercenaries to locate his targets, and to eventually find the location of Jacopo de' Pazzi.

The first of his targets is the monk, Antonio Maffei, who has fortified himself in one of the highest towers in the city because he is paranoid of Ezio coming to hunt him down. His fears are justified as he is soon assassinated by Ezio.

The second of Ezio's targets in San Gimignano is the banker, Bernardo Baroncelli, who, like Antonio, is incredibly paranoid of Ezio coming to hunt him down. Ezio receives information where Bernardo hides and Ezio gets close to him and strikes, before Bernardo could even make a move.

The next of Ezio's targets in the San Gimignano area is the monk, Stefano da Bagnone. Stefano has hidden himself in an abbey just outside of San Gimignano, and Ezio sneaked into the abbey courtyard and killed Stefano before he could retreat back into the abbey. As Ezio killed each of his targets, he received more information about the whereabouts of Jacopo de' Pazzi, and he just needed a little more knowledge to finally located Jacopo de' Pazzi.

The last of Ezio's targets was the Archbishop of Pisa, Francesco Salviati, who hid himself inside his villa, which was located in the countryside just outside of San Gimignano. Ezio used Mario's mercenaries to infiltrate his villa at night and kill Francesco Salviati, albeit with quite a fight between Ezio and Francesco's forces. In his death, Francesco told Ezio where Jacopo de' Pazzi was located.

After finding out the location of Jacopo de' Pazzi, Ezio traveled to the Santa Maria Assunta to follow Jacopo to a meeting place without being spotted. Ezio followed him to the ruins of the Antico Teatro Romano, located just outside San Gimignano. There Jacopo met up with two other Templars, Emilio Barbarigo and Rodrigo Borgia, and they discussed the failure of the plot to overthrow the Medici. Rodrigo was not impressed with Jacopo's excuses and stabbed Jacopo, and nearly killed him.

Rodrigo then exclaimed that he knew Ezio was watching their meeting the whole time and then promptly sent his guards to attack Ezio. Ezio fought them off with ease and then put Jacopo out of his misery. Ezio then left San Gimignano to return to Florence, and to tell Lorenzo de' Medici of his success in San Gimignano.

Assassination Targets
 * Vieri de' Pazzi; The Rival of Ezio Auditore (DNA Sequence 3: Exit the Son)
 * Bernardo Baroncelli; Banker (DNA Sequence 5)
 * Stefano da Bagnone; Advisor to Jacopo de' Pazzi (DNA Sequence 5)
 * Antonio Maffei; Priest (DNA Sequence 5)
 * Francesco Salviati; Archbishop of Pisa (DNA Sequence 5)
 * Jacopo de' Pazzi; Banker, Head of the Pazzi family (DNA Sequence 5)

Landmarks
Due to its many towers, the city itself is a landmark! That said, there are several buildings in and around San Gimignano that have significance in Assassin's Creed II.


 * Torre Grossa (Assassin's Tomb location);
 * Santa Maria Assunta (Glyph location);
 * Antico Teatro Romano (Glyph location);
 * Torre del Diavolo (Glyph location);
 * Torre dei Salvucci (Glyph location).

Database Entry
''Named after Saint Geminianus, who supposedly conjured up a dense fog to save the city of Modena from Attila the Hun, San Gimignano was founded in the 3rd Century. The city grew from the 10th Century onward as a stopping point along the pilgrimage route to Rome.''

''In 1199, once its citizens grew wealthy, San Gimignano separated from the bishops of Volterra and became self-governing. The city's distinctive towers were created as its wealthy citizens competed to display how much money was actually in their pockets. In its heyday, the city had 72 towers.''

''But the plague of 1348 decimated San Gimignano. Without money for upkeep, the town started to fall apart. The council appealed to Florence, and Florence took control.''

Trivia

 * San Gimignano is the only region without an Animus introduction.
 * There is a doctor's stall outside the Salviati's Estate.
 * San Gimignano is the only city with couples arguing over something.
 * When you synchronize all the viewpoints in San Gimignano and then look at the map a small area to the left in the middle is not synchronized.
 * Intrestingly enough, San Gimignano is the only town area in Assassin's Creed II that Leonardo da Vinci does not visit at some point.