SpasArezzo.
Arezzo has very ancient origins. She was one of the
main Etruscan lucumonies and experienced a large development
already in the Roman time, also thanks to her foundries
and above all to the production of red-paint vases
(coralline) that spread from the first century B.C.
to the first century A.D. Arezzo is geographically
located in the south-east of Tuscany and it is at
the center of four wonderful valleys that open at
halo from the town: Valtiberina, Casentino, Valdarno
and Valdichiana. The artistic route of the town has
very interesting elements, which are endowed with
very original features: there's nothing similar to
the Romanesque Church of S. Maria della Pieve (XII
- XIII century); the same Piazza Grande with its slope
and the structure of the buildings that surround it
is a stimulus for the imagination; the crucifix of
Cimabue (XIII century) in the Church of S. Domenico;
the glass windows of De Macillat (XVI century) in
the Cathedral, the Renaissance jewel of the arcade
of S. Maria delle Grazie (XV century) and then the
absolute masterpiece: the cycle of frescoes representing
the legend of the Cross of Piero della Francesca (XV
century) in the basilica of San Francesco. And maybe,
right from Piero we can start an ideal route through
the province of Arezzo, more precisely Valtiberina:
from Madonna del Prato a Monterchi to the works in
Sansepolcro, like Resurrection and Madonna della Misericordia.
Besides Valtiberina with her works of art and her
wide horizons of pastures and forests, the territory
of Arezzo offers wonderful landscapes in Casentino,
where the National Park of the Forests of Casentino
has been created. Inside it, between uncontaminated
nature and secular trees, there are two famous monastic
settlements: the Sanctuary of Verna and the monastery
of Camaldoli. There are numerous Romanesque parish
churches and the Castles of Poppi, Romena, Porciano,
the parich churches of Socana, Romenae di Stia. Valdarno
offers very beautiful landscapes, too that achieve
their greatest importance from the massif of Pratomagno
to the Cavriglia area, where there is an equipped
natural park. The numerous traces of the secular presence
of man can be found in an old village like Loro Ciuffenna
or in a "walled earth" like San Giovanni
Valdarno with her beautiful Town Hall, work of Arnolfo
di Cambio and an Annunciation of Beato Angelico. Val
di Chiana, deeply and lovingly cultivated in its whole
500 sq. km of surface from the town of Cortona, that
rises at 600 m., looks like a garden. Cortona performs
a strong artistic and cultural call, not only for
her past as a very important Etruscan town, of which
exist remarkable remains, like the cyclopean walls
and the princely graves, but also for the other numerous,
both architectonic and pictorial works of art of following
ages. Very famous and popular is the yearly Exhibition
of the ancient Furniture that takes place in Cortona
in early September. Very interesting not only from
the landscape but also from the artistic and architectonic
point of view are, in Valdichiana, the old towns of
Monte San Savino, Lucignano and Castiglion Fiorentino.
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