Arezzo holds one of the most concentrated groupings of early Renaissance and medieval art in Tuscany. Piero della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross in the Basilica di San Francesco is the primary draw, but the city also preserves Cimabue's earliest surviving Crucifix in San Domenico, Pietro Lorenzetti's polyptych in Santa Maria della Pieve, Giorgio Vasari's frescoed house, and Guillaume de Marcillat's stained glass in the Duomo.
This page maps every key site, gives practical booking and timing advice, and connects Arezzo to the wider Piero della Francesca trail through Sansepolcro and Monterchi.
ⓘ 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 main chapel (Cappella Maggiore, also called Cappella Bacci) contains Piero della Francesca's fresco cycle covering the legend of the wood of the Cross, from Adam's death through the Emperor Heraclius. Key scenes include The Dream of Constantine (noted for its pioneering use of nocturnal light), The Battle of Heraclius and Chosroes, The Queen of Sheba Meeting Solomon, and The Finding and Proof of the True Cross. The cycle fills the choir walls in three registers. Entry is timed: 25 visitors per 25-minute slot. Book at least 2 – 3 days ahead in peak season through the ticket office in Piazza San Francesco or online. The church nave (free) contains a Crucifix attributed to the Master of San Francesco.
This single-nave Gothic church, a five-minute walk uphill from Piazza Grande, holds Cimabue's painted Crucifix above the high altar. Dated to around 1268 – 1271, it is likely his earliest surviving large-scale work, predating the damaged Crucifix now in Santa Croce, Florence. The figure of Christ shows a pronounced S-curve and emotional softening that anticipates Giotto's revolution. The church also has 14th-century frescoes by Spinello Aretino and Parri di Spinello on the side walls. Usually open 8:30 – 19:00, no reservation needed.
The Romanesque pieve, identifiable by its layered arcade facade on Corso Italia, contains Pietro Lorenzetti's polyptych (1320 – 1324) in the raised presbytery: a Madonna and Child with Saints Donatus, John the Evangelist, John the Baptist, and Matthew. The crypt below preserves a 14th-century reliquary bust of San Donato. The bell tower ("of the hundred holes") is a landmark visible from across the valley. The church opens onto the back of Piazza Grande, making it an easy stop between the Duomo and lower town.
At the top of the hill, the cathedral contains Guillaume de Marcillat's exceptional early 16th-century stained glass windows along the nave (scenes of the Calling of Matthew, the Baptism of Christ, the Raising of Lazarus, and the Expulsion of the Merchants). On the left wall of the nave, Piero della Francesca's fresco of Mary Magdalene (c. 1459 – 1466) survives in good condition, showing a monumental standing figure with characteristic geometric solidity. The Gothic tomb of Bishop Guido Tarlati (1330), designed by Agostino di Giovanni and Agnolo di Ventura, features 16 narrative relief panels. Open daily, free entry.
Giorgio Vasari (born in Arezzo, 1511) purchased and decorated this house with allegorical frescoes in the Camera della Fama, the Camera di Apollo, and the Sala del Camino. The decoration is both a self-portrait and a manifesto of Mannerist theory: Virtue, Fame, Fortune, and the Liberal Arts appear across ceilings and lunettes. The house also contains his archive and a small collection of paintings. Located on Via XX Settembre, about 3 minutes from San Domenico. Open Wed – Mon, 8:30 – 19:00; closed Tuesdays.
Housed in Palazzo Bruni-Ciocchi on Via San Lorentino, this museum covers Aretine and Tuscan art from the 13th to the 18th century across 20 rooms. Highlights include: Margarito d'Arezzo's signed panel paintings (among the earliest signed works in Italian art), Spinello Aretino's panels, a collection of majolica from Deruta, Gubbio, and Faenza, and Vasari's Convito di Ester e Assuero. Luca Signorelli is represented with fragments and smaller works. The building itself has frescoed ceilings. Open Tue – Sun, 8:30 – 19:30.
This Benedictine abbey church, rebuilt by Vasari in the 1560s, features his painted altarpiece and a notable trompe-l'oeil apse by Andrea Pozzo (1702) that creates a fictive dome from a flat ceiling. The church is a short walk from the train station and makes a logical first or last stop when arriving by rail.
The Basilica di San Francesco sits at the center of the lower town. From here, Corso Italia leads south to Santa Maria della Pieve (3 minutes on foot). Piazza Grande is directly behind the Pieve. Begin with the earliest available timed slot at the Cappella Bacci, then walk to the Pieve for the Lorenzetti polyptych.
The hilltop cluster groups the Duomo (Piero's Magdalene, Marcillat's windows), San Domenico (Cimabue's Crucifix), and Casa Vasari within a 5-minute walking radius. From Piazza Grande, walk uphill via Via di Seteria to reach all three. Allow 90 minutes for the group.
Arezzo is the gateway to the Piero della Francesca trail. Sansepolcro (Museo Civico: Resurrection, Misericordia Polyptych) is 40 minutes by car. Monterchi (Madonna del Parto) is 25 minutes from Sansepolcro. A car is essential; train service to Sansepolcro exists but is infrequent. Start with the early morning San Francesco slot, then drive east after lunch.
Born in nearby Sansepolcro, Piero left his most ambitious work in Arezzo's San Francesco. The ArtAtlas Piero page maps all his surviving works, from Arezzo and Sansepolcro to Urbino, Rimini, and the Uffizi.
Masaccio's Brancacci Chapel frescoes in Florence (1424 – 1428) established the spatial and volumetric logic that Piero later developed in Arezzo. Seeing both cycles clarifies the trajectory of early Renaissance painting.
Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel in Padua (1303 – 1305) established the model of multi-register narrative fresco cycles that Piero reimagined in San Francesco over a century later. Comparing the two reveals how pictorial storytelling evolved.
A two day itinerary on the footsteps of Piero della Francesca
Yes. The Cappella Bacci admits only 25 visitors per 25-minute slot. In peak season (April – October), book 2 – 3 days ahead. Off-season, same-day availability is sometimes possible at the ticket office in Piazza San Francesco.
One full day covers the core sites: San Francesco (45 min), San Domenico (20 min), the Duomo (30 min), Santa Maria della Pieve (20 min), Casa Vasari (30 min), and the Museo Nazionale (1 hr). Add a half-day if combining with Sansepolcro and Monterchi.
Yes, with a car. Sansepolcro is 40 minutes east (Piero's Resurrection and Misericordia Polyptych in the Museo Civico). Monterchi is 25 minutes further (the Madonna del Parto). Start early in Arezzo, then drive east after lunch. Public transport is limited and slow.
Above the high altar in the Church of San Domenico, at the top of the hill near Piazza Grande. Free entry, open daily 8:30 – 19:00. It is likely Cimabue's earliest large-scale work (c. 1268 – 1271).
Yes. Cimabue's Crucifix, Lorenzetti's polyptych in the Pieve, Vasari's frescoed house, Marcillat's stained glass in the Duomo, and Andrea Pozzo's trompe-l'oeil in the Badia make Arezzo a full day of art independent of Piero.
Compact enough to walk in a day, dense enough to reward a week of attention. From Piero's calculated geometry in San Francesco to Cimabue's proto-naturalism in San Domenico, Arezzo traces two centuries of Italian painting in a single hilltop city. The art is distributed across churches, not gathered in one museum, and that is what makes an art map essential.