Both Leoncini’s shop and show-room are in San Gimignano, the famous city of the towers, hidden amidst green hills of vineyards and olive groves, in the province of Siena (Tuscany - Italy).

The development of population and commerce in San Gimignano (also called the “medieval Manhattan”) was favoured by the fact of being located along the “Via Francigena”, both a commercial and religious road, connecting Northern Europe to Rome, passing through: Canterbury, Calais, Bruay, Arras, Reims, Chalons sur Marne, Bar sur Aube, Besançon, Pontarlier, Losanna, Gran San Bernardo, Aosta, Ivrea, Santhia, Vercelli, Pavia, Picenza, Fiorenzuola, Fidenza, Parma, Fornovo, Pontremoli, Aulla, Luni, Lucca, San Genesio, San Gimignano, Siena, San Quirico, Bolsena, Viterbo, Sutri...

The “Via Francigena” represented the unification and communication of several cultures and ideas from the different European countries, which started their commerce of oil, wine, wheat, mainly transported in jars and pots made of terracotta, already then produced in Tuscany.

In the 16th century The Spezieria di Santa Fina was opened (today part of the Archeological Museum of San Gimignano), an old chemist shop, with ointments and medicines kept in pharmacy pots.

Since then, many things have changed and in many cases terracotta has been substituted by ceramics and the pharmacy pots embellished with more and more ornamental and elaborate hand-painted designs.