Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta site features

The church sits at the top of a broad flight of steps on the west side of Piazza del Duomo, facing the Palazzo Comunale across the square, and the first thing to register is how little the exterior gives away. The front is bare stone, essentially undecorated — the result of a 13th-century arrangement, later pierced by two side doors and a pair of circular windows. There is no marble facing, no carved portal of consequence, no tower front. A plaque is set into that facade recording the consecration of 1148.

Inside, the proportions are those of a country parish church rather than a cathedral: three naves separated by rows of columns, in a manner that recalls the pievi of the Casentino, with vaults thrown over the naves in the 14th century.

And then the surfaces. Walking in, the eye does not settle on an altar or an apse — it goes up and sideways, because there is almost no bare plaster anywhere. Both long walls carry continuous bands of narrative fresco stacked in registers from above head height to the springing of the vaults, and the vaults themselves are painted too. The effect is of standing inside a painted box: colour on every plane, scenes running horizontally in sequence, and dark where the windows are few.

Off the right side is the Chapel of Santa Fina, built in the 15th century as part of Giuliano da Maiano's work and frescoed by Ghirlandaio, the most famous painting in San Gimignano — a distinctly Florentine room, lighter and more architectural than the Sienese painting in the body of the church, and the clearest stylistic break in the building. The Chapel of the Concezione belongs to the same campaign.

At the east end, the crossing and presbytery are noticeably longer than the Romanesque church would have been: Giuliano da Maiano extended them from 1460.

• The fresco cycles (14th and 15th centuries) — the reason the church matters: near-continuous narrative painting across both side walls and the vaults, principally by Lippo Memmi and Bartolo di Fredi.
• The Chapel of Santa Fina (15th century) — frescoed by Ghirlandaio, and the best-known painting in San Gimignano: Florentine and architectural where the rest of the church is Sienese and narrative; the sharpest contrast in the building.
• The Chapel of the Concezione (15th century) — the other chapel built under Giuliano da Maiano.
• The bare facade (13th-century arrangement) — undecorated stone at the top of a wide staircase, later opened with two side doors and circular windows. Its plainness is the point: everything was spent inside.
• The consecration plaque — set into the facade, recording the dedication of 21 November 1148 in the presence of Pope Eugene III and fourteen prelates.
• The three-nave interior — divided by columns in the manner of the Casentino pievi, with vaults added over the naves in the 14th century.
• Giuliano da Maiano's east end (from 1460) — the lengthened crossing and presbytery, a Renaissance extension of a Romanesque church.
• The bell tower — under which, in the 12th century, the town's Saturday cattle market was held.