AREZZO

The sumptuous decoration of the façade and the apse, is tempered by the prevailing severity of the spacious interior. Behind the church is the Piazza Grande where on the first Sunday of September every year is held the Joust of the Saracen (Giostra del Saracino) (see picture), in which mounted knights representing the four districts of the city tilt at the wooden effigy of a Turk. Here also there is an antique fair on the first Sunday of every month. Because of its profusion of styles, this square has been called an architectural anthology, and it is certainly one of the most pictoresque squares in Italy. Two sides are occupied by medieval houses and towers, partly restored. The rest of the square is dominated by the rear elevation of the church and the Palazzetto della Fraternita (14th-15th-16th centuries), the palace of a lay fraternity, on the third side; and the impressive mass of the pillared Loggiato del Vasari on the fourth side.

In the Basilica of San Francesco are preserved Piero della Francesca's frescoes (see picture) of the Story of the Cross (dating from 1452). Like Masaccio, Paolo Uccello, Luca Signorelli, Michelangelo, Sansovino and Vasari, to mention only painters and sculptors, Piero della Francesca was a native of the Arezzo region. He was born at San Sepolcro. His frescoes are a lodestone for those who see Renaissance civilisation as one of the great achievements of the human spirit.

The material in the Archeological Museum is rich and varied. It includes notable numismatic collections, Etruscan and Greek vases, sculptured and, above all, the "corallini" vases already mentioned, the latter the product of an industry which flourished in the late Republican and early Imperial Roman periods. In the Medioeval and Modern Gallery and Museum the major Aretine artists are represented , from Margheritone to Spinello, Signorelli and Giorgio Vasari, and there are excellent examples of other Italian and foreign schools up to the 20th century. In addition to the sculptures, paintings and collections of ivories, goldsmith's work, seals and coins, there are extremely rich collections of majolica which rank among the most important of Italy. The beauty of other civic monuments testifies to the ancient civilisation of Arezzo and to the city's importance in various historical epochs: the City gates, the Church of San Domenico (with a magnificent Crucifixion by Cimabue), the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (notable for its beautiful Renaissance portico) and the Renaissance churches of Santa Maria in Gradi and Santissima Annunziata.