What to see in Arezzo, one-day itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including Piazza Grande, Medici Fortress, Cathedral, Basilica San Francesco and Palazzo dei priori.
Tourist information
Geographically located in the innermost part of Tuscany, at an average altitude of 260 meters, Arezzo is located at the entrance of the four Casentino valleys to the north, Upper Valdarno to the west, Valdichiana to the southeast and the upper Tiber valley to the east.
The municipal territory extends partly in a mainly hilly and mountainous area, and partly in the area of the Piana di Arezzo and the Piana della Chiana aretina.
The first human settlements on the territory of the future city of Arezzo arose on the heights of the San Pietro hill, where the Cathedral is located, the Colle di San Donato, where the Medici Fortress is located, the lower hills Poggio del Sole and Pionta, where they are significant evidence of the Etruscan civilization has been found.
The small depression between Colle San Pietro and Colle San Donato was artificially filled over the centuries, creating a large public park for horse racing in the nineteenth century, corresponding to the current Prato Public Garden.
The ancient Arretium, besides being an important Etruscan center perched on the low hills, became a larger Roman city, when in the Augustan era it expanded considerably towards the plain and the layout of the walls was enlarged to accommodate new buildings, including the Amphitheater, theater and spa.
In the thirteenth century, the power of the Bishops-Counts, characterized by a remarkable economic and demographic development, was replaced by the government of the municipal institutions.
In that period, when a new city wall was built that was reunited in the north-east with the Etruscan-Roman one, the conflicts with Florence and Siena worsened, which led to the defeat of the Arezzo in the war against Florence in the Campaldino plain, which took place in 1289.
The city rose again in 1312 with the election of the city of Bishop Guido Tarlati as Lord, but after his death it fell back to the Florentine power while trying to rebel several times.
In the sixteenth century Cosimo I de 'Medici had the old fortification rebuilt, designed by Sangallo, and built a new city wall, later demolished in 1870.
To build the new fortress, buildings, towers and churches were demolished, which were part of the enclosure of the ancient citadel or which were in the immediate vicinity, to make the structure impregnable.
Recommended readings- Artimino (Tuscany): what to see
- San Galgano (Tuscany): what to see
- Poggibonsi (Tuscany): what to see
- Castiglione di Garfagnana (Tuscany): what to see
- Tuscany: Sunday day trips
During the government of the Grand Duchy, the city experienced a period of decline, from which it recovered with the unification of Italy and the construction of the Florence-Rome railway, which greatly favored city development.
Arezzo holds splendid masterpieces of art, and has also given birth to illustrious personalities such as the poet Petrarch and the great artist Giorgio Vasari.
What see
Among the monuments and places of greatest interest is the Basilica of San Francesco, which includes the Bacci Chapel, one of the most beautiful masterpieces of Renaissance painting, famous for the cycle of frescoes of the Legend of the True Cross, works created by Piero della Francesca between 1452 and 1466.
In Piazza Grande, dating back to the thirteenth century, there are remarkable medieval buildings, including Palazzo Tofani and Torre dei Làppoli, a sixteenth-century palace with Vasari's loggia, the Pieve di Santa Maria, the Palazzo del Tribunale and the elegant Palazzo della Fraternita dei Lay people dating back to the fifteenth century.
The square hosts the traditional Giostra del Saracino twice a year, and the famous Antiques Fair every first Saturday and Sunday of the month.
The construction of the Pieve di Santa Maria, which is one of the most beautiful examples of Romanesque architecture in Tuscany, was started after 1140, as a remake of a previous church, and continued with the construction of a new facade and bell tower until early three hundred.
In the sixteenth century the church was modified by Vasari and in the following centuries its interior was enriched with Baroque decorations, at the end of the nineteenth century a radical restoration of the building dates back.
The Church of San Domenico, which is a Gothic construction built between the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century, has an exterior with an unfinished facade including a with a bell tower, while inside there is a famous Crucifix, a work youth of Cimabue, built between 1268 and 1271.
The Cathedral of Saints Pietro and Donato, is the Cathedral of Arezzo, which rises above a beautiful sixteenth-century staircase, near the Medici Fortress, on the site of the ancient city Acropolis.
The building was built following the decision to move the Duomo and the bishop's residence, from the primitive seat of the hill of Pionta, within the city walls.
Between the end of the thirteenth century and the first of the sixteenth century, the construction of the imposing building was completed, while the facade is from the beginning of the twentieth century, because the original one was not completed.
The stained glass windows by Guillaume de Marcillat and the Maddalena by Piero della Francesca painted in 1465 are very beautiful.
In the nearby Diocesan Museum there are several works including some by Vasari and Luca Signorelli.
Palazzo dei Priori, seat of the municipality of Arezzo, is located in Piazza della Libertà.
It was built in the fourteenth century and has a quadrangular tower adorned with a fifteenth-century clock.
Inside there are frescoes by Parri di Spinello and Teofilo Torri as well as paintings by Giorgio Vasari and other artists from Arezzo.
The Casa Vasari Museum, the family residence of the painter, architect and art historian Giorgio Vasari, is a place where you can admire the beautiful rooms frescoed by Vasari, as well as the Vasari Museum and Archive.
National Archaeological Museum Gaius Cilnius Patron and Roman Amphitheater.
The Museum, located in the former Convent of San Bernardo, built in the sixteenth century on the remains of the Roman amphitheater, 117-138 AD, boasts an extraordinary collection of Etruscan and Roman finds found within the urban perimeter of Arezzo, in Arezzo area and other areas.
The stalls and the remains of the ambulatories remain of the Amphitheater, used today as an open-air theater.
The National Museum of Medieval and Modern Art is housed in the beautiful Renaissance Palazzo Bruni Ciocchi, called della Dogana, and houses works by the greatest artists of Arezzo (Giorgio Vasari, Spinello Aretino, Luca Signorelli, Margarito), a numismatic collection and an interesting collection of Renaissance ceramics.
The Casa del Petrarca is located in via dell’Orto, where the famous poet was born in 1304.
The current building dates back to the end of the fifteenth century with subsequent renovations, it is home to the Petrarch Academy of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
Santa Maria delle Grazie, is a sanctuary located outside the city center, dedicated to the Madonna Madre della Misericordia.
In the fifteenth century, the current church was built on the site of a simple tabernacle, characterized by an elegant loggia designed by Benedetto da Maiano.
Inside the main altar in marble and glazed terracotta, by Andrea della Robbia, contains the painting by Parri di Spinello, which represents the Virgin who protects the Christian people under her mantle.
