With its population of 100.000 residents, Arezzo is the perfect city to live in with its slow pace, quiet and relaxation while getting acquainted with lots of nice aspects of the tuscan province!
Its beautiful old town of the Medieval and Renaissance period had been captured by Roberto Benigni in “La vita è bella”, film which gained the Oscar in 1999.
Among the oldest cities in Tuscany, Arezzo had been inhabited since the VIII-VII centuries B.C. by Etruscans and Romans as we have learnt from some artifacts stored in the Archeological Museum. The ruins of the Roman Amphitheatre of Arezzo are an evidence of its importance in the Imperial Age when also Gaio Cilnio Mecenate, the Minister of Culture of Augustus, was born there; in fact, the word “Maecenas” is still being used in all modern languages to refer to a protector and investor of Arts.
Also Petrarca, Giorgio Vasari, Pietro Aretino, Guido Monaco or Guido d’Arezzo (the inventor of the musical notation in the XI century) were born there. Due to the richness of artworks in its old town, several artistic and cultural tours in Arezzo will make you discover the beauty of this city left out from the mass touristic itineraries.
The guided tour, coupled with a qualified local guide, will start from St Francis Church whose Bacci Chapel stores the collection of frescoes “La leggenda della vera croce”, painted by Piero della Francesca, and considered as a masterpiece of the Renaissance art. The tour will include also the visit of Pieve di Santa Maria Assunta, Piazza Grande with the Loggias of Vasari and Palazzo della Fraternita dei Laici, the Duomo with its wonderful stained glasses of the Renaissance period made by Guillaume de Marcillat and, finally, San Domenico Church which conserves the wonderful “Crocifisso” painted by Cimabue in 1260.
