Piero della Francesca (c. 1415 – 1492) left his greatest works in a tight constellation of small Tuscan and Marchigian towns: the Legend of the True Cross cycle in Arezzo, the Resurrection in Sansepolcro, the Madonna del Parto in Monterchi, and the Flagellation and Madonna di Senigallia in Urbino. Additional paintings are held in Florence, London, Milan, Lisbon, and Rimini. This page maps every location so you can plan a focused itinerary.
Use the interactive map below to locate each site, then follow the city links for practical details on booking, opening hours, and walking routes between venues.
ⓘ Opening hours and admission prices listed on this page are indicative and subject to change. Always verify current information on the official website of each venue before your visit.
The choir of this Franciscan church holds Piero's monumental fresco cycle telling the story of the True Cross in twelve scenes across three registers. Key episodes include the Dream of Constantine (the first nocturne in Italian painting), the Battle of Heraclius and Chosroes, the Queen of Sheba Meeting Solomon, and the Discovery and Proof of the True Cross. The cycle was restored between 1985 and 2000. Visits are timed and limited; book at least a week ahead in high season (April – October). The basilica is a 5-minute walk uphill from Arezzo train station.
Piero's birthplace holds the Resurrection in the main hall on the ground floor, a fresco that Aldous Huxley called "the greatest painting in the world." The risen Christ stares directly at the viewer while four soldiers sleep below. In the same museum you'll find the San Giuliano polyptych (fragmentary) and the detached San Ludovico fresco. Sansepolcro is about 40 minutes by car east of Arezzo. Allow 1 – 2 hours for the museum and the small historic center.
This detached fresco, originally in the chapel of the cemetery of Monterchi, shows the pregnant Virgin flanked by two angels who pull open a curtain-like tent. The work is now displayed in a dedicated museum in the center of Monterchi. The village sits on a hill between Arezzo and Sansepolcro, reachable only by car. A combined visit with Sansepolcro is practical: Monterchi is roughly 15 minutes south of Sansepolcro. Opening hours vary seasonally; check ahead in winter.
Inside the Palazzo Ducale of Urbino, the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche holds two of Piero's most studied works. The Flagellation of Christ, a small panel (58.4 × 81.5 cm), presents a mysterious architectural perspective splitting the scene between the biblical flagellation and three unidentified foreground figures. The Madonna di Senigallia shows the Virgin with Child and two angels in a domestic interior suffused with cool, silvery light from a window at left. Both works are displayed on the piano nobile. The palace itself, designed by Luciano Laurana, is one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture.
Book Galleria Nazionale delle Marche guided tour · Official site
The double portrait of Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza is displayed in Room 8 on the second floor. The panels show the couple in strict profile against an aerial landscape of the Montefeltro hills. The reverse sides (visible in the same room) depict their triumphal processions. The painting is small (each panel 47 × 33 cm) and often crowded, so visit early. The Uffizi also holds Piero's unfinished Battle of San Romano predella fragment attributed to his circle.
The Pala di Brera (also called the Montefeltro Altarpiece) is one of Piero's largest and most complex panel paintings. The Virgin with sleeping Child is enthroned beneath an apse shell from which hangs an ostrich egg, surrounded by saints and angels, with the kneeling Federico da Montefeltro in full armor at lower right. The architectural setting demonstrates Piero's command of perspective with mathematical precision. Located in Room VI of the Pinacoteca di Brera.
This fresco shows Sigismondo Malatesta kneeling before his patron saint, flanked by two greyhounds, in a rigorously constructed architectural frame. It is Piero's earliest dated work. The Tempio Malatestiano (designed by Leon Battista Alberti) is Rimini's cathedral and can be visited freely. Rimini is about 1.5 hours by car from Arezzo via the E45, making it a feasible addition to a Piero itinerary that already includes Sansepolcro and Urbino.
The National Gallery holds three Piero panels. The Baptism of Christ is perhaps the most reproduced: Christ stands at center beneath a tree while the dove of the Holy Spirit descends along the vertical axis, with three angels at left. The Nativity (unfinished) shows singing angels with lutes before a rustic shed. Both are displayed in Room 66 of the Sainsbury Wing. Admission to the National Gallery is free; no booking needed for the permanent collection.
The Capodimonte collection includes a small St. Jerome panel attributed to Piero or his workshop. While not among his major works, it is worth noting for travelers already visiting Naples. The museum sits in the Capodimonte park, north of the historic center.
One of four surviving panels from a dismembered polyptych originally in the church of Sant'Agostino in Sansepolcro. This panel shows St. Augustine in full episcopal vestments encrusted with miniature narrative scenes. Other panels from the same altarpiece are in the Frick Collection (New York), the National Gallery (London), and the Poldi Pezzoli Museum (Milan).
The Frick holds the St. John the Evangelist panel from the same dismembered Sansepolcro polyptych. Displayed in the intimate galleries of the former Frick mansion on the Upper East Side. Combined with the Metropolitan Museum (a short walk south), a Piero-focused visit in New York is efficient.
These three towns, within 40 km of each other, hold Piero's greatest frescoes. Start in Arezzo for the Legend of the True Cross, drive to Monterchi for the Madonna del Parto, then continue to Sansepolcro for the Resurrection. A car is essential. Allow a full day; book the Arezzo frescoes in advance.
The Palazzo Ducale houses the Flagellation and Madonna di Senigallia. Urbino is 1.5 hours east of Sansepolcro by car (via the Bocca Trabaria pass), making it a natural second day after the Tuscan triangle. The palace also displays works by Raphael (born here), Justus of Ghent, and Pedro Berruguete.
Piero's polyptychs were dismembered over the centuries. Panels from the Sant'Agostino and Misericordia altarpieces are now scattered across the National Gallery London, the Frick Collection, the Poldi Pezzoli in Milan, and the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon. Check each museum's page for specific room locations.
Home to the Legend of the True Cross in the Basilica di San Francesco. Arezzo also holds works by Vasari, Cimabue (crucifix in San Domenico), and Spinello Aretino. The city page covers the booking process for Piero's frescoes and a walking route through the historic center.
The Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in the Palazzo Ducale holds the Flagellation and Madonna di Senigallia. Urbino is also Raphael's birthplace, with his childhood home open as a museum. The city page maps both Piero and Raphael locations.
Masaccio's Brancacci Chapel frescoes in Florence (c. 1424 – 1427) established the volumetric, perspective-based painting that Piero later refined with mathematical rigor. Following Masaccio to Piero is one of the most instructive sequences in Italian art.
A route through the towns and museums where Piero's work survives: Sansepolcro, Arezzo, Monterchi, Urbino. A guide for planning a dedicated pilgrimage around a single artist.
Techniques, historical evolution, and the material conditions of Italian monumental painting — essential context for reading Piero's Legend of the True Cross in Arezzo.
A structured guide to the Uffizi, including the rooms dedicated to early Renaissance painting where Piero's Diptych of the Duke of Urbino is displayed.
No other painter of the 15th century imposed such rigorous mathematical order on the visible world, yet produced images of such stillness and luminous calm. His works are scattered across small towns in central Italy that were once the courts of Renaissance princes. The map helps you connect them into a coherent route.