AREZZO

The city of Arezzo, is at the confluence of four river valleys, for this reason it became a great Etruscan and Roman center. The Archaeological Museum, situated in a former monastery, constructed on a part of the roman Amphitheater, conserve many finds of that period. Guido Tarlati, bishop of Arezzo, in the first half of XIV century, transformed the city in a important art and cultural center. In 1304 Francesco Petrarca was born in Arezzo. At the end of XIV century Arezzo passed under the rule of Florence and that of the Medici Family until the half of XVIII century.

The city offers several masterpieces of art: from the Romanesque Pieve of Santa Maria, to the Gothic Cathedral, the medieval churches of San Domenico and San Francesco (in the first Cimabue left its juvenile work, the Crucifixion, in the second Piero della Francesca painted his masterpiece, the Leggenda della Vera Croce (the Legend of the True Cross), an extraordinary masterpiece of this genius of the Renaissance). The medieval palaces like the Town Palace and the Palazzo Pretorio, Palazzo della Fraternita and then the Renaissance Loggias designed from Georgio Vasari, the House-Museum of Vasari and the Medicean Fortress, all these building leave to travel over again centuries of history and culture.

The most beautiful square, Piazza Grande with its house-towers, is the set of the Fair of the Antiquariato (Antique trade), the most ancient and the most famous in Italy, it takes place the first Sunday of the month and the saturday that precedes it; in the same square it's held the Giostra of the Saracino, a chivalry tournament that takes place in June and in September. Other museums of the city keep valuable works of art: the State Museum of Medieval and Modern Art, the House Museum of Ivan Bruschi, the Diocesan Museum and the Civic Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. The jeweller's and the antique trade are between the main economic activities of the city.

WHAT TO SEE IN THE AREA:

Castiglion Fiorentino, Cortona, Sansepolcro, Poppi.