26 Amazing Places to See in Cortona & Arezzo

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26 Amazing Places to See in Cortona & Arezzo.

Giulia Bianchi 26 Amazing Places to See in Cortona, Arezzo, Sansepolcro, Anghiari & Casentino Italy – Cappannelle.it

1. Cortona

Cortona is a small charming town in the province of Arezzo in southern Tuscany. The city’s origins date back to the Etruscan and Roman times and it’s situated on top of a hill. This position oers a spectacular view from all over the town of the surrounding valley and even Lake Trasimeno. The city offers many interesting places to visit.

More info Opening hours: open everyday form 7.00 am to 7.00 pm Phone number: +39 0575 603362 Address: Strada dei Cappuccini 1, Cortona Email: [email protected]

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1.2 Piazza della Repubblica 1.1 The “Celle” Hermitage Piazza della Repubblica, or Repubblica square, is Le Celle is a Franciscan hermitage located just ve situated in the city centre of Cortona and it’s really kilometres from Cortona, at the feet of Mount close to Piazza Signorelli. In the past it used to be Sant’Egidio. The hermitage’s cells were built by St the crossroad of the two main Roman streets, the Francis and his followers in 1211 and the place Cardo and the Decumano. From the square you has taken the name of Celle ever since. This is can see Palazzo Comunale and Palazzo Passerini. believed to be the place where, in May 1226, four months before his death, St Francis dictated his Will. Currently the hermitage is inhabited by seven friars who continue to practise the preachings of St Francis.

26 Amazing Places to See in Cortona, Arezzo, Sansepolcro, Anghiari & Casentino Italy – Cappannelle.it 26 Amazing Places to See in Cortona, Arezzo, Sansepolcro, Anghiari & Casentino Italy – Cappannelle.it

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1.4 Duomo di Cortona The church of Santa Maria Assunta, also known as the Cathedral or Duomo of Cortona, is one of the oldest churches of the city. It was built in the 4th century, on the foundations of a pagan temple. Its form was changed in the 14th century thanks to some designs attributed to Giulia da Sangallo.

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1.3 Basilica di Santa Margherita The church is situated on top of an hill. The name of the church comes from St Margaret who spent her last years in one of the rooms of a little church, where she died in 1297. After her death a bigger church was built, Basilica di Santa Margherita. The church went through a lot of style changes during the years and for this reason it’s full of pieces of art coming from dierent historical periods. More info Address: Piazza del Duomo, 1, 52044 Cortona AR

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1.5 MAEC The Museum of the Etruscan Academy and of the City of Cortona (MAEC) is hosted in Palazzo Casali since 2005. It combines the historical and famous Museum of the Etruscan Academy, founded in 1727, and the extraordinary museum of Cortona’s history and intellectual culture. More info Opening hours: open every day from 6.50 am to 7.30 pm Address: Piazza Santa Margherita, 52044 Cortona AR

2. Arezzo Arezzo is located in southeastern Tuscany, it sits atop a hill at the crossroads of four valleys: the Val Tiberina, Casentino, Valdarno and Valdichiana.

More info Opening hours: From April to October open every day from 10.00 am to 7.00 pm From November to March open every day except Its ancient origins are veried by the stone tools for Mondays from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm and the so-called Man of the Elm discovered here th closed on the 25 of December and found to date back to the Paleolithic era. The city was originally founded by the Etruscans Phone number: +39 0575 630415 around the 9th century B.C., was named Aritim Address: Piazza Signorelli 9, Cortona and quickly became one of the most important cities in Tuscany, playing an important role over Email: [email protected] the centuries thanks to its strategic position.

Arezzo has plenty of monuments, churches and museums that oer visitors a chance to step back into history.

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2.1 Piazza Grande

Piazza Grande, or Piazza Vasari, is the largest square in Arezzo. It hosts twice a year the famous Saracino juost and every month the beautiful Fiera Antiquaria ( antique fair).

Madonna del Conforto is a picture of St. The square is surrounded by several important Mary which, according to Christian tradition, buildings. For example Palazzo delle Logge, made would have been subject of a miracle happened in by Giorgio Vasari and situated in the North-East Arezzo the 15th February 1796. The picture was side of the square, that has a splendid porch hanging on the wall of a basement or a tavern behind in which there are a lot of shops. while a terrible earthquake hit the city. A lot of people started praying in front of the picture. The ______picture became suddenly really bright and the earthquake came to an end. From that moment 2.2 Duomo di Arezzo the picture of Madonna del Conforto has been celebrated every 15th of February of the year. In 1993 the picture was declared patron of Arezzo by Arezzo’s Cathedral ( also called Duomo di Arezzo the Pope. or Cattedrale di Ss. Donato e Pietro) is located on the site of a pre-existing Palaeo-Christian church and is, perhaps, one of the ancient city’s acropolis. More info The late XIII century Gothic church, decorated with Opening hours: open every day from 7.00 am to splendid stained glass windows made by 12.30 pm and from 3 pm to 6.30 pm. Address: Guillaume de Marcillat, houses the beautiful Piazza Duomo, 1, 52100 Arezzo AR fresco of Santa Maria Maddalena made by Piero della Francesca (1460). ______It was the site of the Bishop of Arezzo from the 3rd century until 1986, and from 1986 onwards of the 2.3 Santa Maria della Pieve present Bishop of Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro. Santa Maria della Pieve also called Pieve is a The interior has a nave and two aisles divided by Catholic church situated in Corso Italia in the city piers with ogival arches, ve spans covered by centre of Arezzo. Its structure has been started in cross vault, without transepts. The seven stained the XII century. The façade has been renewed in glass windows in the right aisles were executed in the XIII century, while the bell tower has been 1516-1524 by Guillaume de Marcillat. The wooden nished only in 1330. During the XVI, XVII, and XVIII choir of the Grand Chapel was designed by Giorgio centuries the church has been internally changed. Vasari in 1554. The Chapel of Madonna del Thanks to the many documents that had been Conforto is a Neoclassicist work, built from 1796 found, it was discovered that Giorgio Vasari and and housing several terracottas by Andrea della his wife’s remains are situated in the grave under Robbia. the church’s floor.

More info Opening hours: From Monday to Friday Open from 9.00 am to 8.30 pm On Saturdays Open from 9.00 am to 5.30 pm On Sundays Open from 1 pm to 5.30 pm

Address: Piazza S. Francesco, 1, Arezzo Phone number: +39 0575 352727 Website: www.pierodellafrancesca.it More info Opening hours: open every day from 8.00 am to ______12.30 pm and from 3 pm to 6.30 pm Address: Corso Italia, 7, 52100 Arezzo AR 2.5 San Domenico San Domenico church is one of the most known ______churches in Arezzo. It hosts the really famous wooden Crucix made by Cimabue around 1260. 2.4 Basilica di San Francesco In January 1276 the church hosted the rst The Basilica of San Francesco is a really important Catholic Conclave in history. The church was Catholic church in Arezzo. begun in 1275 and finished in the XIV century. It is made of stone and bricks and it’s situated in San Francesco square. The interior is really spacious and it has just one aisle. On the left side there are some chapels. Inside the main one there is the famous cycle of frescos made by Piero della Francesca called “Storie della Vera Croce”. The church also hosts a big crucix made by the Master of San Francesco.

More info Opening hours: From Monday to Saturday Open from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm and from 2.00 pm to 7.00 pm On Sundays Open from 10.00 am to 11.00 am and

from 12.30 pm to 7 pm

Address: Via di Sasso Verde, 59, 52010 Arezzo AR

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2.6 Museo Diocesano dell’’Arte Sacra (MuDAS) Museo Diocesano dell’Arte Sacra (Diocesan Museum of Religious Art) was established in 1963, but it was opened to the public only in 1985. The More info museum hosts religious artworks dated from the Opening hours: XII to the XIX century that come from the churches From Monday to Saturday (closed on Tuesdays) o f Arezzo. The museum is divided in ve big Open from 8.30 am to 7.00 pm rooms. There are a lot of art works made by On Sundays Open from 8.30 am to 1.00 pm Giorgio Vasari and Luca della Robbia.

Address: Via XX Settembre, 55, 52100, Arezzo Website: www.pierodellafrancesca-ticketoffice.it Phone number: +39.0575.299071

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More info 2.8 Fortezza Medicea Opening hours: open every day from 10.00 to 6.00 Fortezza Medicea is the fortress of Arezzo and is pm located on the San Donato hill. It represents a Address: Piazza Duomo, 1, 52100, Arezzo defensive military architecture example of the XVI Phone number: +39 05754027268 century. The building has an irregular pentagonal shape and is situated at the end of Prato gardens. ______Fortezza represents one of the best panoramic points of the city where you can see Arezzo, Arno 2.7 Casa Vasari valley, Pratomagno, Catenaia mountain from Casa Vasari is a building situated in XX Settembre above. streen in Arezzo. It had been the family house of the famous painter, architect and art historian Giorgio Vasari. The house shall keep many frescoed rooms. The artist bought this building around 1540 but because of his many commitments in Florence and Rome he lived there only during short periods of time. However, he helped building and decorating the house.

More info 3.1 Aboca Museum Opening hours: open from Tuesday to Sundays Aboca Museum was created by ABOCA, a company from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm (closed on Mondays) which produces herbal medicinal products. In the musuem the visitors can discover the history and Address: Viale Bruno Buozzi, 52100, Arezzo AR traditions of herbal. Phone number: +39 0575 377504 Another interesting thing about thr museum is the research centre that hosts the Bibliotheca Antiqua, a really big library containing 2,500 tomes which ______talk about the therapeutic value of plants and health released between 1500 and 1900. 3. Sansepolcro At the foot of the last part of the Tuscan Apennines, Sansepolcro dominates Valtiberina, the valley of the river Tiber. Tradition attributes a mythical origin to Sansepolcro due to the work of two pilgrim Saints Arcano and Egidio who, returning from the Holy Land, received a divine message and decided to stay and build a small chapel in the valley. The town was initially called Santo Sepolcro or “novella Gerusalemme”, which means new Jerusalem. More info Opening hours: From October to March Open every day except for Mondays From 10.00 am to 1.00 pm and from 2.30 pm to 6.00 pm From April to September Open every day From 10.00 am to 1.00 pm and from 3.00 pm to 7.00 pm

Address: Via Niccolo Aggiunti, 75, 52037, San Sepolcro, AR Phone number: +39 0575 733589 Website: http://www.abocamuseum.it

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The city is profoundly linked to the great river which crosses it and gives the name of Valtiberina to the whole of the surrounding valley. The area has always been a lively centre of commerce due to it being a borderland, today it is a junction between four regions in the exact centre of Italy.

3.2 Museo Civico di Sansepolcro Museo civico di Sansepolcro (Sansepolcro’s civic Museum) is situated in Aggiunti street. It consists 4. Anghiari of ten rooms distributed on two oors and a basement. Created in the XVIII century, the art gallery that the museum hosts has been extended through the years. The museum has been opened to the public in 1975. The museum keeps art works by famous artists like Piero della Francesca, Matteo di Giovanni, Giovanni Battista Cungi and many others.

Anghiari is about 30 km from Arezzo, near the border between Tuscany and Umbria in the Tuscan Valtiberina valley. Anghiari is a small medieval city set on a hill made of stone built up over the centuries by the Tiber river. Thanks to its strategical position, Anghiari played an important role in the Middle Ages. The at More info valley underneath the village was the set of the Opening hours: famous Battle of Anghiari in 1440. The legendary From the 25th September to the the 9th June 25 fresco depicting the “Battle of Anghiari” by settembre / 9 giugno Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to celebrate Open every day from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm and this victory. Anghiari preserves the ancient and from 2.30 pm to 6.00 pm original atmosphere of small medieval towns and From the 10th June to the 24th September is considered one of the most beautiful villages in Open every day from 10.00 am to 1.30 pm and Italy. from 2.30 pm to 7.00 pm th st Closed on the 25 December and on the 1 ______January 4.1 Madonna del Parto Address: Via Niccolò Aggiunti, 65, 52307, The Museum of the Madonna del Parto, just Sansepolcro, AR outside the walls of the village of Monterchi- a Phone number: +39 0575732218 small town near Anghiari- , was made for a single Email: museocivico@comune.sansepolcro.ar.it work of art, Piero della Francesca’s masterpiece Madonna del Parto, probably painted in the mid- ______15th century for the small Church of Momentana, now a cemetery chapel. The painting depicts the visibly pregnant Virgin with her hand on her stomach in a gesture of great naturalness. The angels open a tent, the tabernacle that contains Mary who, in her turn, is the tabernacle for the body of Christ.

5. Casentino

More info Opening hours: From the 1st April to the 1st November The Casentino Valley is rich with history, art, good Open every day from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm and from food and outdoor activities. It is one of the four 2.00 pm to 7.00 pm valleies in Arezzo and is really close to Florence. From the 2nd November to the 31st March Open This isolated valley oers opportunities for visitors every day from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm Open every day of all ages visiting castles, trekking through (except for the 25th December) from 9.30 am to centuries-old forests, tasting authentic recipes 12.30 pm and from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm and so on.

Address: Via della Reglia 1, 52035, Monterchi (AR) 5.1 La Verna Phone number: +39 0575 70713 Verna’s Franciscan Sanctuary, situated a few Email: [email protected] kilometers away from Chiusi della Verna in Website: http://www.madonnadelparto.it Arezzo’s province- inside Casentinesi Forests National Park-, is known for being the place where th ______Saint Francis of Assisi received stigmata the 14 September 1224. Built in the shouther part of Penna mountain, the sanctuary- destination of many pilgrims- hosts a lot of chapels, places of prayer and other very important religious places.

More info Opening hours: Opening hours: open every day from 6.30am to From the 16th March to 1st November Open 7.30pm (winter)/ 10.00pm (summer) everyday from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm Address: Via del Santuario, 45, 52010, Chiusi della From the 2nd November to the 24th December Verna, AR and from the 7th January to the 15th March Open Phone number: +39 0575 534249 from Thursday to Sunday from 10.00 am to 5.00 Email: [email protected] pm Website: http://www.santuariolaverna.org From the 26th December to the 6th January (closed on the 25th December)Open everyday from 10.00 ______am to 5 pm

5.2 Conti Guidi Castle Address: Piazza della Republica, 1, Poppi, Arezzo Conti Guidi Castle is situated in Piazza della Phone number: +39 0575 520516 Repubblica in Poppi, a small town close to Arezzo. The castle has been built during the Middle Ages ______from the will of Count Simone Guidi and his son Guido. The castle has been the site of an historical 5.3 Eremo di Camaldoli event: the Campaldino battle in 1191. The building Camaldoli Hermitage is a religious building was maybe created by Arnolfo di Cambio. The situated close to the town Camaldoli in Arezzo castle hosts the city hall, a chapel, a museum province. It has been founded by Saint Romualdo about the Campaldino battle and a big library. during the rst years of the XI century and is the Mother House of the Benedectines congregation of the camaldolesis. Today the hermitage hosts the monastery where nine monks live.

More info More info Opening hours: Winter schedule Open from Monday to Saturday from 9.00 am to 12.00 pm and from 3.00 pm to 5.00 pm Summer schedule Open from Monday to Saturday from 9.00 am to 12.00 pm and from 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm

Address: Strada Provinciale 124 dell’Eremo, 6, ______52014 Poppi Arezzo Website: www.camaldoli.it 5.5 Pieve di Romena ( di San Pietro) E-mail: [email protected] Saint Peter pieve in Romena, a city close to Arezzo, Phone number: +39 0575 556021 is a Catholic church situated close to the Romena castle in Pratovecchio municipality. The church ______has been built in the XII century. The façade is really simple rustic and made of hedging stones. On the left side there is a bell tower. The interior is divided in three aisles. The presbytery is raised from the ground and the pavement is divided on different levels.

5.4 Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi The Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona, Campigna is a national park in Italy. Created in 1993, it covers an area of about 368 square kilometres, on the two sides of the More info Apennine watershed between Romagna and Tuscany, and is divided between the provinces Opening hours: open everyday from 9.00 am to of Forlì Cesena, Arezzo and Florence. It extends 7.00 pm around the long ridge, descending steeply along Address: Via Di Romena, 1, 52015 Pratovecchio AR the parallel valleys of the Romagna side and more Website: www.ilbelcasentino.it gradually on the Tuscan side, which has gentler Phone number: +39 0575 582060 slopes, especially in the Casentino area, which slopes down gradually to the broad valley of the Arno. ______

More info Website: www.parcoforestecasentinesi.it Map Email: info@ parcoforestecasentinesi.it

Author

Giulia Bianchi italian student of Liceo Linguistico Arezzo for English, French, German Languages

Web Site: www.cappannelle.it

26 Amazing Places to See in Cortona, Arezzo, Sansepolcro, Anghiari & Casentino Italy – Cappannelle.it