Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tear yourself away after two nights and continue to your final destination, the Val di
Chiana, where you can spend a few days eating, drinking and sightseeing your way
around the valley. While here, pop into the provincial capital,
Arezzo
, where locals out-
number tourists by a healthy margin and where churches are the highlight - don't miss the
Cappella Bacci, Pieve di Santa Maria and
duomo
, and be sure to follow your church visits
with a
passeggiata
(evening stroll) along glamorous Corso Italia.
A number of nearby medieval hilltop towns are also well worth visiting -
Castiglion
Fiorentino
and
Lucignano
are extremely pretty, but both pale in comparison with
Cor-
tona
, which deserves a half-day visit at the very least. Be sure to walk up the steep
cobbled streets to its Fortezza Medicea, and also check out the collections at the Museo
dell'Accademia Etrusca and the Museo Diocesano.
When your time runs out, consider heading south towards Rome on the A1 autostrada,
stopping to visit the stunning cathedral at
Orvieto
en route to admire Luca Signorelli's
famous fresco cycle of
The Last Judgment
. Alternatively, head into the neighbouring re-
gion of Umbria to visit one of Italy's most famous pilgrimage centres,
Assisi
, home to the
Basilica di San Francesco, where Giotto's extraordinary frescoes portraying the life of St
Francis stun all beholders.
