Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
where an airborne Juliette Binoche views the frescoes by the light of a flare in Anthony
Minghella's 1996 adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's novel
The English Patient
.
Only 25 people are allowed into the chapel every half-hour (maximum 30-minute visit),
so advance booking is recommended. The ticket office is down the stairs at the basilica's
entrance.
Pieve di Santa Maria
CHURCH
(Corso Italia 7; 8.30am-12.30pm & 3-7pm May-Sep, to noon & 3-6pm Oct-Apr)
This 12th-century
church (Arezzo's oldest) has a magnificent Romanesque arcaded facade adorned with
dozens of carved columns, each uniquely decorated. Above the central doorway are 13th-
century carved reliefs known as the
Cyclo dei Mesi
, which represent the months of the
year. January's figure has two faces: one looks back on the previous year and the other
looks forward.
Inside, the undoubted highlight is Pietro Lorenzetti's polyptych,
Madonna and Saints
(1320-24), located beneath the semidome of the apse.
Piazza Grande
This lopsided and steeply sloping piazza is located behind the
pieve
and is overlooked at
its upper end by the porticos of the
Palazzo delle Logge Vasariane
, completed in 1573. The
church-like
Palazzo della Fraternità dei Laici
in the northwest corner was started in 1375 in
the Gothic style and finished after the onset of the Renaissance.
PIAZZA
Duomo di Arezzo
CATHEDRAL
(Cattedrale di SS Donato e Pietro; Piazza del Duomo; 7am-12.30pm & 3-6.30pm)
Though construc-
tion started in the 13th century, Arezzo's
duomo
wasn't completed until well into the 15th
century. In the northeast corner, to the left of the intricately carved main altar, is an ex-
quisite fresco of
Mary Magdalene
(c 1459) by Piero della Francesca. Also notable are five
splendid glazed terracottas by Andrea della Robbia and his studio.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale
'Gaio Cilnio Mecenate'
MUSEUM
