The Legend of the True Cross
In the church of San Francesco, Piero della Francesca frescoed the Legend of the True Cross — a cycle following the wood of the cross from the death of Adam to the seventh century. It is calm, geometric, strangely still, and it is one of the handful of genuinely great fresco cycles in Italy.
⚠️ Entry to the chapel is timed and capped, and you buy a slot rather than simply walking in. Slots are not usually hard to get, but they are limited.
Arezzo also has a Piero Magdalene in the cathedral and a Cimabue crucifix in San Domenico. For a town this size that is an extraordinary concentration.
The square, and the market
The Piazza Grande slopes noticeably, with a Vasari loggia along the top side and a mixture of medieval and Renaissance fronts around it. Giorgio Vasari — painter, architect of the Uffizi, and the man who effectively invented art history — was born in Arezzo, and his house is a museum.
On the first weekend of each month the square fills with one of Italy's largest antiques markets, which spills through the surrounding streets.
The Giostra del Saracino, a jousting tournament, is run in the square twice a year.
Getting there
Arezzo is on the main line south from Florence and direct trains take about an hour. The old town is uphill from the station, ten to fifteen minutes on foot.
⭐ It is the quietest of the easy day trips. If Siena and San Gimignano sound too busy and you want a Tuscan town that is still mostly getting on with its own life, this is the one.
⭐ Book the San Francesco slot before you travel, then build the rest of the day around it. Everything else in Arezzo can be walked into.
Arezzo in pictures
