Chiesa di Sant'Agostino (Church of St. Augustine), San Gimignano

Built between 1280 and 1298, Sant'Agostino stands as the second-largest church in San Gimignano. Its exterior, crafted entirely in brick, mixes Romanesque with Gothic style: tall, slender lancet windows punctuate the austere walls, beneath a cornice adorned with trefoil arches. A solitary terracotta-framed rose window and modest doorway mark the façade, though entry is typically made through a side portal.

Stepping inside, the simplicity fades into an atmosphere rich with history and artistry. The single nave, topped by an open wooden-beam roof, is flanked by altars and frescoes spanning medieval to Renaissance styles. The high altar is surrounded by a legendary seventeen-panel fresco cycle, Stories of the Life of Saint Augustine, painted by Benozzo Gozzoli between 1464–1467-widely considered one of the most splendid and well-preserved cycles of its kind in Tuscan Renaissance art. Nearby, Gozzoli’s votive fresco of Saint Sebastian offers a depiction of the saint shielding San Gimignano’s citizens from the plague-dressed in a cloak rather than martyr’s wounds, with an inscription dating it to July 28, 1464.

The church’s layout includes a central apse flanked by two smaller chapels. The right chapel houses a ‘Birth of Mary’ altarpiece by Vincenzo Tamagni, along with a Life of the Virgin fresco cycle by Bartolo di Fredi. In the Chapel of Saint Bartolo, you’ll find the remains of the local Franciscan saint, an elegant marble altar and a beautiful original majolica tile floor.