Arezzo town - One of the most
important cities of the Etruscan federation, in Roman times
it also held a preminent position among the cities of the
Italian peninsula, in the middle ages it was one of the first
to elect its own government and in the 13th and 14th centuries,
under the aegis of its warrior bishops, it was a powerful
republic led by the Ghibelline faction.
For this reason it long opposed the
Florentine Guelph faction for supremacy in Tuscany until,
a century after the harsh defeat suffered at the battle of
Campaldino (1289) it was annexed with all its extensive lands
into the Republic of Florence (1384).
Over the centuries the land of Arezzo
has given birth to illustrious men, most notably G. C. Mecenate,
adviser to Augustus and protector of artists; Francesco Petrarca,
the greatest Italian lyric poet; Piero della Francesca; Masaccio;
Paolo Uccello and Michelangelo, the innovative geniuses of
renaissance art; Giorgio Vasari, painter and architect, author
of the first work on art history; Pietro Aretino, regarded
as the best playwright of the 16th century; Andrea Cesalpino,
the first to study the circulation of the blood; Alessandro
dal Borro, the finest Italian military commander of the 17th
century;
Principal monuments and works of art:
Santa Maria della Pieve (12th century): one of the
most original examples of
Romanesque architecture.
Piazza Grande: the buildings surrounding the square
bear witness to six centuries of Arezzo's civil architectural
development, from ordinary houses of the 1200 and 1300s alongside
two noblemen's houses with towers, to the Palazzo della Fraternita
dei Laid (house of the Lay Brotherhood) with its gothic and
renaissance facade, from the apse of Santa Maria della Pieve
to the adjacent 18th-century Palazzo del Tribunale courthouse,
and the 16th-century Logge del Vasari.
The Duomo (13th-, 14th-, and 15th-century cathedral):
one of the greatest gothic monuments in Tuscany, famous for
its splendid stained-glass windows by Guglielmo de Marcillat.
It houses highly valuable works of art such as the cenotaph
of bishop Tarlati and the main altar which are two fine examples
of gothic sculpture, and Piero della Francesca's Saint Mary
Magdalene.
San Domenico (13th century): this church, with its
curiously asymmetrical facade, is home to the great Christ
painted by Cimabue and an interesting series of 14th- and
15th-century frescoes of the Arezzo school.
San Francesco (13th and 14th century): with its unique
great truss-roofed nave is one of the most majestic examples
of gothic monastic architecture in Tuscany. In the central
chapel of the choir is the masterpiece of Piero della Francesca,
the great cycle of frescoes depicting the Legend of the True
Cross, regarded as one of the finest expressions of ideal
aesthetics that matured in the culture of the first renaissance.
Where is Arezzo town: is located in the middle of
Arezzo province, in the south east of Tuscany region
How to reach Arezzo town:
From Rome, direction Florence/Arezzo on the A1 (210 Km)
From Florence, direction south rome (75 Km)
From Pisa, direction Florence (150 Km)
From Siena, direction east on the road Siena Bettolle (64
Km)
Nearby: Visit the area of Valtiberina (Sansepolcro,
Anghiari, Monterchi) the area of Setteponti (Loro Ciuffenna,
Castiglion Fibocchi, Castelfranco) and Cortona, Castiglion
Fiorentino
Distances: Florence 75 Km - Pisa 150 Km - Siena 64
Km
Correct name is Arezzo
Common mistakes are Arezo, Areso
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Arezzo town
- Arezzo - Tuscany Italy
Arezzo town 
