Writing these posts so many months after the experience has required a bit of detective work. Luckily I keep a lot of records and between my daily family emails, expense log, and photo time stamps, I’ve been generally able to recreate each day. We visited Arezzo on October 28, nearly four months ago. 

Arezzo Arrival and Archeological Museum

We made a later start for Arezzo than our other day trips because the morning direct trains were only at 6:37 and 9:50 a.m. (I found in an email to Chad from when I was planning the day). We opted for the later departure time and started our day with cappuccino and pastries in Perugia. Instead of walking to the train station, we took the mini-metro, the adorable single-car automated public transit that costs just 1.5 euros each way (and you can just tap your credit card to enter). The train was about 8 euros per person each way, so our total transportation cost for the day trip was $45.

We arrived at 11 a.m., which gave us time to visit the Museo Archeologico Nazionale Gaio Cilnio Mecenate before lunch. It was well-located to be the first stop on our daytrip, positioned between the train station and the old town. They had lockers to store our backpack and the price was for entry was a good value at 9 euros each.

This archeological museum is housed in a former monastery built over the remains of a Roman amphitheater. Though it traces the whole history of Arezzo, the main focus is on the many Etruscan artifacts found in the area, in particular pottery. We’ve encountered Etruscan items in museums before but this was the most comprehensive exhibit we’ve experienced and we learned a lot about this mysterious culture that flourished in Umbria and Tuscany from around 800 to 100 BCE. There aren’t a lot of written records of the civilization and it was sort of subsumed by the ancient Romans as they expanded. We enjoyed the museum very much and spent a over an hour there between the exhibits and the exterior amphitheater space.

Schiacciata Picnic and Exploring Arezzo

After the museum, we walked into the old town and picked up a couple of Schiacciata sandwiches from Lo Spaccio Focacce Panini. Schiacciata is like focaccia but flatter and crunchier. The name actually means “crushed.” We chose two vegetarian varieties, one with potato and truffle and the other with vegetables and hummus. They were very good. We took them to go to the Parco Elsa Rosi Nofri not far from the archeological museum.

After lunch we spent some time wandering through town. Some of the main points of interest are the Piazza Grande, the old city walls, and the Parco Il Prato. They also have a Medici Fort but it had mixed reviews so we decided to skip it. The Parco Il Prato especially has beautiful views over the countryside and Chad had a little macchiato from the cafe there to perk up for our afternoon sightseeing. The Cattedrale dei Santi Pietro e Donato is right next to the park, so we checked that out before moving back toward the main part of town. We also stopped into the Basilica di San Domenico, a 14th century church featuring a crucifix painted by the famous 13th century Italian artist Giovanni Cimabue.

Palazzo della Fraternita dei Laici

The Palazzo della Fraternita dei Laici is a museum on the Piazza Grande with a tower and art and exhibits related to Arezzo. The Fraternita is a religious group founded in 1262 to do charitable works in the town. The museum was worthwhile, especially the view from the clock tower.

Basilica di San Francesco

Probably the biggest draw in Arezzo, at least for us, were the 15th century frescoes by Piero della Francesca in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo. It is his largesat the Basilica di San Francesco. To protect the frescoes, there is limited timed ticket entry. I got our 4 p.m. tickets online the day before our trip. The price per person is 6 euro plus a 3 euro reservation fee. We may not have needed the reservation on a Tuesday in October, but 6 euros is a small price to pay to guarantee entry.

The church interior was pretty and had some other interesting frescoes and art to enjoy as we made our way to the famous frescoes behind the alter. The frescoes show various episodes in the Legend of the True Cross, this medieval concept linking Jesus’s cross to a tree in the garden of Eden. The legend says the cross was then found in late antiquity by the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine after he had a dream about it. It became a symbol of the “righteousness” of their religious war, which is not my favorite side of Christianity. Still, the frescoes were very beautiful and interesting as an example of the shift from early Renaissance to high Renaissance art. 

Departing Arezzo and Summary

We followed up our basilica visit with gelato for Chad from Gelateria Sunflower, a very popular shop near the basilica. We’d considered staying in Arezzo for dinner because it has many well-reviewed restaurants but feeling tired and not too hungry after our late picnic, we decided to head on back to Perugia. In the late afternoon and evening the trains between the two cities run every hour so we bought tickets for the next one on the Trenitalia app and were back in Perugia before 7 p.m. 

Arezzo was actually a contender to be our homebase during our four weeks in Umbria, but I’m glad we chose Perugia instead. Arezzo was a nice town with many amenities but it didn’t quite have Perugia’s magic. Still, it was a great day trip and a highly recommend it for a few hours. It was helped by being a beautiful for wandering around the city. We managed to schedule all three of our day trips for sunny fall days, despite many rainy dreary days in Perugia that time of year. 

When we began planning for our time in Perugia, we’d hoped to do two day trips per week or at least one every five days because there were so many towns in the area we wanted to see. In the end we only managed three day trips during our four-week stay, plus an afternoon truffle hunt in Assisi that I’ll share about in my next post. In part this was due to a hefty workload during that time and in part it was discovering so many attractions we wanted to see in Perugia itself. In the end, we prioritized the three places we wanted to visit most and they all worked out great.