[Ezio's Family from AC2]
The walled town of Monteriggioni is one of the most personal locations to Ezio;
and, as it turns out, one of the locations that Ubisoft took the most liberties with.
The town is surprisingly small, and while the building architecture rekindles a small sense of the Ezio games,
it's impossible to ignore the town's most glaring omission:
The Villa Auditore, or anything resembling it, simply does not exist.
The villa, of course, served as the base of operations for Ezio in AC2,
as well as for the modern Assassins in 2012.
Another difference in the game is Cesare Borgia's attack on the town at the start of AC: Brotherhood.
I can't find any record of Cesare ever attacking Monteriggioni,
and in fact, most conflicts of the town were with armies from the Republic of Florence.
This included attacks under the command of the Medici family, which is funny given the in-game allegiance between Ezio and Lorenzo.
Lorenzo: Thank you for the role you've played in keeping this dream of mine alive a little longer.
Ezio: L'onore è mio, signore. (The honor is mine, sir.)
Monteriggioni was a part of the Republic of Siena,
which bordered the Republic of Florence, as you can see on this map from the time period.
In the mid-1500s, a few decades after Ezio's death,
Monteriggioni would be taken over by Florence and the Medicis.
Of course, there are similarities between the AC version of Monteriggioni and the real-life version.
The walls and towers of the town look strikingly similar, and the church and well fit in with the games as well.
Monteriggioni is definitely worth visiting, as long as you set up your expectations.
If you go searching for the Villa Auditore, you'll end up with a nice view of the Tuscan countryside instead.
Relatively close by is San Gimignano, where Ezio kills Vieri de Pazzi, amongst other events.
Due to time constraints we did not visit San Gimignano, and it remains one of the biggest omissions on this trip.
I wanted to see San Gimignano, but instead decided to pay tribute to
the now-defunct multiplayer of Assassin's Creed. I had to see Siena.
Siena has no presence in the single-player of
Assassin's Creed,
but in the multiplayer it is the most popular map ever made
Siena's low roofs and small map size made it fun to play and easy to rack up points,
and it looked beautiful to boot.
In real life the city of Siena is quite large with tall buildings, albeit with the signature hue that is the city's namesake.
As it turns out, the multiplayer map takes place entirely within the Piazza del Campo in the middle of the city.
The Palazzo Pubblico overlooks this public square, while the square's lone landmark within it is the Fonte Gaia.
The excellent sight lines from this fountain in the multiplayer made it one of the most popular blending spots.
Twice a year the Palio di Siena horse race is held around the edges of the square, as can be seen in the game.
In modern times though, this area is packed with people rather than tents during this event.
Siena holds a special place in the heart of every Assassin's Creed multiplayer fan,
and a visit to the city proved to be a fitting and bittersweet farewell to that aspect of the series.
Thanks for watching, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the episode.
Just a quick note that next week I'll be doing some coverage of Assassin's Creed: Rogue on Thursday,
so the next episode of Assassin's Creed Pilgrimage is bumped to the Wednesday after that.
See you soon!
