Arezzo (population 100,000) capital of the province of Arezzo, along the Arno river. The city has Etruscan origins, conquered by the Romans in early 300s BCE, independent city state in the Middle Ages, 1384 came under Florentine rule (Florence is 80 kms away). The city was heavily damaged in WWII. It was a 45 minute drive from Castello.
Our day trip there was wet.
The Basilica of San Francesco is a late Medieval church in Arezzo, dedicated to St Francis of Assisi. The Cappella Maggiore houses the fresco cycle by Piero, done in two stages, started in 1452, halted 1458-1459, and completed in 1466.
Piero’s major work is a series of frescos on the Legend or Story of the True Cross. The subject was a medieval legend. Piero renders fanciful details creating solemn and serene images — even the two battle scenes have a feeling of grim deliberation rather than violent movement.
Story of the True Cross narrates a story about the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Derived from the popular 13th century book on the lives of saints by Jacopo da Varagine, the Golden Legend, the story starts with the wood being from the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden; the wood was then transformed (after being buried with Adam) in the building of the temple of Solomon. The Queen of Sheba divined its future use and warned Solomon that the future saviour of the world would be killed using this very piece of wood. As this foretold the end of the Jewish kingdom, Solomon buried the wood in a swamp. Fourteen generations later, the wood became the Cross on which Christ was crucified.
The cross was rediscovered by Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine. One battle scene shows Constantine’s battle of Milvian Bridge which led to him legalizing Christianty. Helena travelled to Jerusalem to find the true cross. She went to Jesus’ tomb and discovered three crosses. To test which was the true cross, a man was raised from the dead by touching one cross, so Helena proclaimed she found the true cross.
Initially Helena left the cross in Jerusalem but Chrosos or Khosrau tried to set himself up as God resulting in the other battle scene with Heraclius who defeated him and returned the cross to Jerusalem. Helena brought brought the cross to Rome along with a bunch of other things like the rope used in the crucifixion and the stairs climbed by Jesus up to Pontius Pilate. (I’m tempted to describe Helena as one of the first souvenir collectors.)
The frescoes occupy three levels on the side walls and the eastern wall, surrounding a large window. Piero did not follow a chronological order, preferring to create symmetrical correspondences between the various scenes.
In the movie “The English Patient” (written by Canadian Michael Ondatje) there’s a scene set in Arezzo in WWII with Juliet Binoche as a Canadian nurse and Naveen Andrews, her lover an Indian bomb expert, who rigs up a harness and lifts her in the chapel so she can look at Piero’s frescoes up close. (Clips can be found on You Tube.) Too bad we did not get to do the same.
In the Duomo of San Donato (Donato was an early Christian martyr who was beheaded in 363) is Piero’s Maddalena. In the 16th century a monumental cenotaph of some bishop or other was moved and covered part of the fresco. Not a lot is known about the Maddalena. likely painted around the same time as The True Cross frescoes or immediately afterwards – around 1460 – 1466. She stands, her hair loose and holding the jar of ointment with which she anointed Christ’s body – her particular iconography. She’s over life-sized and is stepping out of an architectural niche. Her glass jar of ointment glows as if it had a light inside.
We had lunch in a restaurant facing Arezzo’s main square, Piazza Grande. The temperature was warm enough to eat outside although occasionally rain and wind blew in on us.
In June and September, Arezzo holds a contest, Giostra del Saracino, around the piazza somewhat like the Palio in Siena but this one involves knights on horseback jousting with a lance. The competition is between neighbourhoods. This event was part of the decor of the restaurant.
After lunch we went to Santa Maria della Pieve. We were going to see an altarpiece by Pietro Lorenzetti, brother of Ambrogio Lorenzetti, but the altarpiece was on loan to the Met in New York.
The Piazza Grande during a rain break.
The loggia, the open arcaded area, and the building were designed by Giorgio Vazari who came from Arezzo.
Cat Manson, who is leading this group along with Richard Stemp, took some of us for the best gelato in Arezzo. The nocciola had whole hazelnuts (yum) and the fondente was good as well.
Our last stop was San Domenico.
Inside was what is believed to be one of the earliest works by Cimabue (ca 1270) which has been regarded as marking the shift out of medieval Byzantine to a more naturalistic style.
