Grand Tuscan Manor

AREZZO:
The city of Arezzo, situated in the South-West of Tuscany, rises up a hill which takes in 4 valleys: Valtiberina, Casentino, Valdarno and Valdichiana.

The city has deeply historic origins and is – although this is a little-known fact – even older than Alexandria in Egypt!
Arezzo was one of the major Etruscan Lucumonies and later became a strategic Roman center, a fulcrum of flourishing economic activity and cultural monuments, including the Amphi-theater, whose remarkable remains can be seen today.

At that time its foundries and art factories, whose decoration technique spread throughout the Roman world for coral vases were renowned. In the Middle Ages, it became a free commune in which the Ghibelline faction prevailed and conflicted with Florence. After the battle of Campaldino in 1289, the independence of the city ended and, despite a slight economic recovery during the Tarlati period, Arezzo became a Florentine domain as early as 1384, thus becoming part of the Grand Duchy of the Medici family.

Arezzo is a city where ancient traditions reverberate from every corner; one way to experience them is to visit during the penultimate Saturday of June or the first Sunday of September, when Piazza Grande is turned into the centre of the Giostra del Saracino, a knightly tournament originating from medieval times.

There is also the more frequent Antiques Fair, which takes place on the first weekend of the month in the very same square and is a vast market of often unusual objects – which does mean you should prepare yourself to spend a while hunting to find just what you want!