Bed and breakfast accommodation in Arezzo Monasteries

Prosperous Arezzo, its modern wealth based on its position as one of the world’s major gold manufacturing centres, spreads down a hill in the Arno valley in Tuscany. It’s visited mainly by art lovers on the trail of the enigmatic Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca (1415 – 1492), whose most famous fresco cycle, The Legend of the True Cross, is in the church of San Francisco. This extraordinary work, superbly restored in the 1990s, tells the story of the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Near San Francesco is the Pieve di Santa Maria, a Romanesque church that backs onto Arezzo’s main Piazza Grande. Higher up the winding streets, at the top of the hill, stands the Duomo, constructed over four centuries and finally completed in the 2th century. Elsewhere, there’s plenty of tempting retail therapy; Arezzo is particularly noted for antiques and there’s a monthly antiques fair.

There’s little left of Roman Arezzo, founded on the site of what had been one of the most important Etruscan towns, one of a group called the Etruscan League. It was a major centre, renowned for its pottery, and probably converted to Christianity in the 2nd century, becoming an episcopal seat by the 4th century. 

By the 13th century the three main religious orders of the Benedictines, Dominicans and Franciscans were established here; all three built churches during the 13th centuries. Despite never having experienced a Saracen attack, Arezzo’s main festival, a medieval joust, is known as the Giostra del Saracino. Practically the whole population dresses up in medieval costume and processes through the streets before packing into the Piazza Grande. Here, the jousting is held, with mounted knights, representing different town neighbourhoods, charging at a wooden target attached to carving of a Saracen king.