Revised and Expanded for 2018 / 2019

Enjoy setting up a base and living in a hill town.

To learn about Tuscany I suggest that you set up a base and live in the Tuscan hill town, if only for a few days. Arezzo is about 60 km southeast of Florence. It is large enough to have a lot to offer and small enough to maintain age old traditions.

This, the most comprehensive English guidebook on Arezzo available, helps you . . .

• Learn about the culture and festivals in Tuscany.

• Find a place to stay by providing information on an agriturismo, a hotel, and a B&B.

• Eat at good restaurants and pizzerias.

• Use GPS coordinates to find your way around.
• Participate in the evening passeggiata and local Saturday market.
• Decode the meanings of religious art.
• Eat at the best osteria in Arezzo, La Capannaccia.
• Assess the mobile accessibility of sites.
• Cook from 15 authentic recipes from my Italian family.

Advantages of Arezzo:

• Location. Arezzo is a good base for exploring more Tuscany. It's a short 45 minute train ride to Florence; 30 minutes by car from Cortona; 60 minutes from the Val d'Orcia where many of the most scenic sites of Tuscany lie and where pecorino cheese is produced; 60 minutes to Montepulciano; and 90 minutes from the famous wine region of Chianti. On the western side of Arezzo is Ponte Buriano, the bridge in the background of the Mona Lisa.
• Just the Right Size. Arezzo is large enough to have a lot to offer in terms of culture, churches, museums, art, hotels, shopping, and restaurants; yet small enough to maintain traditions like closing for lunch, the evening passeggiata, Saturday markets, and Medieval festivals.
• Less Expensive. With Florence only 45 minutes away by train, you can stay in Arezzo for less. Moderately priced hotels and agriturismi abound, along with excellent restaurants.
• Art Treasures. The Basilica di San Francesco houses Piero della Francesca's greatest work, The Legend of the True Cross. You can find works by many of the great Renaissance artists, e.g., Spinello, della Robbia, Vasari, and Marcillat, in the churches and the State Museum of Medieval and Modern Art.
• Festivals and Markets. Arezzo hosts a monthly Antique Fair, considered by many to be the most important in Italy with over 200 dealers winding all around the old city center. Twice a year the four neighborhoods compete in the Joust of the Saracino, complete with full Medieval regalia. Every evening the locals walk up and down Corso Italia in the passeggiata to visit with friends before dinner. Saturday mornings are for the large open air market selling everything from food to shoes to toys to kitchenware.

Arezzo Churches in the Book:

• Pieve della Santa Maria
• Il Duomo
• Basilica di San Francesco
• Basilica di San Domenico
• Chiesa di Sant’Agostino
• Chiesa della Santa Maria in Gradi
• Chiesa della Santa Maria delle Grazie
• Badia dell Sante Flora e Lucilla
• Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata
• Chiesa di San Bernardo

Praise from Readers:

— I was delighted to find your book on the area on Amazon before our visit earlier this month. —

— We went to Arezzo a few years ago, but this time, armed with your guidebook we visited again. I wanted to let you know how helpful the book was. I had not noticed the bas-reliefs on the barrel vault of the main door of Pieve Santa Maria or visited the Museo Ivan Bruschi before, let alone the Telecommunications Museum which, like you, we stumbled on unexpectedly. —

— I just finished your book and wanted to tell you I enjoyed it very much. I am planning to go to the Tuscany area next June for a wedding and it gave me a lot of usual information. Because of your book I plan on setting up shop in Arezzo for a few days. —

— I have your guide books which have been very useful. —

Arezzo Museums and Sites in the Books:

• Casa Museo di Ivan Bruschi
• Museo Archeologico
• Telecommunications Museum
• Casa Museo di Giorgio Vasari
• Museo Statale d’Arte Medievale e Moderna
• Roman Amphitheater
• Piazza Grande
• Il Prato and La Fortezza Medicea
• Biblioteca
• Casa del Petrarca
• Museo Mudas — the Diocesan Museum
• Palazzo del Comune
• Ponte Buriano, the bridge in da Vinci’s Mona Lisa
• Permanent Exhibit of Regional Fauna

Bonus Information:

• Places to stay and eat.
• The bar Coffee O Clock.
• Decoding religious art.
• 15 recipes including limoncello.
• The Passeggiata.
• Antique Fair.
• Saturday Market.
• International Market Festival.
• La Giostra del Saracino.
• Travel Basics.