Fourteen of what were once 72 towers give San Gimignano, the “Manhattan of the Middle Ages”, its unusual silhouette. On the ridge of the hill, already settled in Etruscan times, a center for pilgrims and traders developed. From 929 onwards, it was under the rule of the bishops of Volterra. At the end of the 12th century, the town freed itself from its feudal lords by electing its own consuls. The production of cloth and the cultivation of saffron, brought wealth, which led to a new ring of walls being constructed in the course of the 13th century. The Guelph leader Ardinghelli and the Ghibelline Salvucci built higher and higher towers, for reasons of prestige as well as for the purposes of defense and attack. Things to see include: The triangular Piazza Cisterna from which the hill town was supplied with water from the well, built in 1346, and surrounded by medieval palazzi. The Palazzo del Podestà, the house of the commander of the town, and the Palazzo del Popolo are on the present-day Piazza del Duomo, which directly adjoins the Piazza della Cisterna. The Palazzo del Popolo has a tower dating from 1300, the Torre Grossa, was completed and at 177 feet (54m.) it was the tallest tower in town. According to law, no tower was allowed to be taller than the Torre Grossa or the Torre Rognosa (171 feet / 52m.) which, with its unusual bell housing, seems to be growing out of the Palazzo del Podestà. The collegiate church of S.Maria Assunta: Since 1362 a large freestanding staircase has led up to the two portals of the church, famous for its frescoes. In the left aisle, Bartolo di Fredi painted scenes from the Old Testament with a lively freshness in 1367. On the opposite side, a New Testament by the brothers Federico and Lippo Memmi. On the interior façade there is the Martyrdom of St.Sebastian by Benozzo Gozzoli, dating from 1465, and above it the Last Judgment by Taddeo di Bartolo, painted in 1393.