




Arezzo sits an hour southeast of Florence by direct train, climbing a hill crowned by a Medici fortress. It is known for Piero della Francesca's fresco cycle in the Basilica di San Francesco and its sprawling monthly antiques fair filling Piazza Grande. The town remains an active regional centre of goldsmiths rather than an open-air museum. Arezzo is worth visiting if you want early Renaissance art and robust Tuscan cooking without jostling tour groups. Look elsewhere if you want late-night clubbing or flat, step-free walking.
Last updated 23 Oct 2026
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Arezzo is laid out across a steady incline, rising from the modern train station up to the quiet lawns of Il Prato and the Medici fortress. The day here orbits around the steeply slanting Piazza Grande and the morning passeggiata down Corso Italia. It suits independent travellers who value world-class art and honest butcher-driven kitchens without the frantic cadence of larger Tuscan cities.
Begin with a timed morning slot at the Bacci Chapel to see the Piero della Francesca frescoes. Walk up to Piazza Grande for lunch of pici with ragù at a quiet terrace, then climb through the cathedral to Il Prato park by mid-afternoon. Finish with an aperitivo on Via Cavour as locals gather. Select 1 Day above to see it.
Devote your morning to the Roman amphitheatre and the Casa Vasari in the quieter northern quarter. In the afternoon, head down to the lower town for a dinner of roasted pork liver and stewed grifi paired with a carafe of Colli Aretini red at an unpretentious osteria. Choose 2 Days to expand the plan.
With three days, ride the regional train into the forested Casentino valley to explore the fortress at Poppi and the beech woods of Camaldoli monastery. Alternatively, spend an easy afternoon browsing gold workshops before an evening meal of wood-grilled Chianina beef.
Book ahead for Piero della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross frescoes in San Francesco, plus Giorgio Vasari's mannerist townhouse on Via XX Settembre.
Comb Piazza Grande on the first weekend of every month for walnut sideboards, vintage linen, old copperware, and prints spread across stone steps.
Climb to the Gothic cathedral for Guillaume de Marcillat stained glass, or step into Santa Maria della Pieve with its five-tiered romanesque colonnade.
Order Chianina steak cooked over oak embers, or try rustic crostini neri smeared with chicken liver paste and grifi stewed from lean veal cheek.
Track down hand-rolled pici tossed with wild boar ragù, or sample fat ricotta-and-chard gnudi dusted with aged pecorino in neighborhood trattorias.
Sip structured Sangiovese blends from the Chianti Colli Aretini zone alongside crisp white Trebbiano, pouring by the carafe across the upper town.
Walk the ramparts of the 16th-century Fortezza Medicea for sweeping views over the Casentino valley, olive groves, and the rooftops of the old centre.
Visit the Gaio Cilnio Mecenate Museum set inside a Roman amphitheatre to inspect ancient Aretine red-gloss pottery and Etruscan bronze artefacts.
Watch riders in historic dress charge at wooden targets in Piazza Grande during the Giostra del Saracino joust held in June and September.
Browse traditional goldsmith workshops along Corso Italia, continuing a metalworking tradition that dates back to the Etruscan fourth century BC.
Rest on a park bench at Il Prato, looking out past the cathedral apse toward the Apennine ridge, shaded by pines and well away from traffic.
Catch the local LFI train north into the Casentino to tour the Poppi castle, or take an easy bus south to Cortona perched over the Valdichiana.