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WEDNESDAY 5th October 2005
AREZZO
We were dropped off near the main railway station, and once Dominic had supplied us with tourist maps we crossed the Viale Michelangelo at the old city gateway Bastoni di S. Spirito. The route to the old town was then straight on along the pedestrianised Corso Italia.
Arezzo’s economy rests on the profits of its jewellers and goldsmiths and has the world’s largest gold manufacturing plant. The geographical position of Arezzo controls the major passes of the central Apennines, and was one of the most important settlements of the Etruscan federation, maintaining its independent power and prosperity under Roman rule, and through the middle ages until 1289. Thereafter it remained a major cultural force - with Guido d’Arezzo, the first theorist of musical notation, being born here; as were Petrarch (1304-74) and in the 16th c Pietro Aretino and Giorgio Vasari.
The Cattedrale is at the highest point of the town and took some time to build - started in the late thirteenth century, it was virtually finished by the start of the sixteenth, but the campanile comes from the last century and the facade from the 20th c.
Moving down from the Cattedrale the Piazza Grande is approached along the Logge Vasari, whose arcades are occupied by shops and a welcome cafe. Every month an Antiques Fair turns the Piazza Grande into a vast showroom of expensive antiques. Looking out on to the Piazza Grande are the Baroque Palazzo dei Tribunali and the Palazzeto della Fraternita dei Laici, the latter’s Gothic ground floor gives way to fifteenth-century upper storeys. The 12th century Pieve di Santa Maria backs on to the Piazza Grande.
The church of San Domenico, constructed mostly in the late thirteenth century, but with a Gothic campanile, has a Crucifix by Cimabue (1260) painted when the artist would have been about 20.
The church of San Francesco - Piero della Francesca’s church - was built after 1322, and earned its renown after the Bacci family commissioned Piero della Francesca to continue the decoration of the choir, which had been started by Bicci di Lorenzo. The theme of the Piero’s wall paintings is The Legend of the True Cross, and having been recently restored looks wonderful - two details are included “Madonna del Parto” and “Solomon with the Queen of Sheba”.
CORTONA
The coach dropped us off at Santa Margherita, and while waiting for the church to open up some of us climbed up to the adjacent fortress to capture the view of the countryside with Lake Trasimeno in the distance. The interior of this mock Romanesque church, rebuilt in the nineteenth century, is shown.
Before we started the trek down the very steep path to the town, Jackie pursuaded Dominic to take the group photo.
Cortona was one of the smaller towns visited, and one of the oldest.In 1411 it passed into the possion of Florence. It was the birthplace of painter Luca Signorelli (in 1441 or 1450) and in 1596 of the painter and architect Pietro Berrettini, know as Pietro da Cortona.
In the centre of the old town, we drew breath after our walk from Santa Margherta in the Piazza della Republica, overlooked by the Palazzo del Popolo, and the Palazzo Comunale
Somewhere Jackie found this delightful wall painting in a gallery.
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