Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Casa Museo di Ivan Bruschi
MAP
MUSEUM
GOOGLE MAP
(
www.fondazionebruschi.it
; Corso Italia 14; adult/reduced €5/3; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun late Mar-Oct,
10am-1pm & 2-6pm Tue-Sun Nov-late Mar)
The 13th-century Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo
opposite the
pieve
was restored in the 1960s by Ivan Bruschi, a wealthy antiques dealer.
Since his death, the Palazzo has opened its doors as a private house museum showcasing
Bruschi's eclectic personal collection of furniture, art, coins, jewellery, costumes and
ceramics dating from the prehistoric, Etruscan, Greek, Roman, medieval and Renaissance
periods. Admission is discounted to €1 if you have a ticket for the Cappella Bacci.
MUSEUM
Casa Vasari
(Via XX Settembre 55; adult/reduced €4/2; 9am-7pm Mon & Wed-Sat, to 1pm Sun)
Built and sump-
tuously decorated by the Arezzo-born painter, architect and art historian Giorgio Vasari
(1511-74), this small museum is where Vasari lived and worked, and where the original
manuscript of his
Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects
(1550) -
still in print under the title
The Lives of the Artists
- is kept.
The most important room is the
Sala della Virtu
(Room of Virtue), which he decorated in
1548 while writing
Lives
. It features episodes in the lives of the most famous painters of
antiquity. Vasari's contemporaries were celebrated in the
Camera della Fama e delle Art
(Room of Fame and Art), where the seven portraits include Michelangelo, Andrea del
Sarto and - in a display of hubris - Vasari himself.
Ring the bell to be granted entrance.
Tours
Two-hour guided English-language
walking tours
( 0575 40 33 19, 334 3340608;
www.centroguidearezzo.it
;
adult/child €10/free)
are conducted every Thursday from 11am
between May and October. Book ahead.
MONEY SAVER
A combined ticket (€12) gives entry to the Cappella Bacci, Museo Archeologico Nazionale and Casa
Vasari.
