Every design for Arezzo

Arezzo stands at the northern end of the Valdichiana, where the Castro and the Vingone run down into the Canale Maestro della Chiana and the valleys of the Arno and the Tiber open up to the north. Livy counted it among the capitals of Etruria, and the Romans later made it a station on the via Cassia.

The Basilica di San Francesco holds the frescoes by Piero della Francesca that bring most visitors here, and the Chiesa di San Domenico keeps Cimabue's crucifix. Around the Pieve di Santa Maria and out to the Fortezza Medicea run streets once walked by Giorgio Vasari, Guido of Arezzo and Guittone d'Arezzo, and Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, whose name still stands for patron of the arts, came from noble Aretine Etruscan stock. La Chimera recalls the bronze unearthed here and carried off to Florence.

For anyone who grew up in Arezzo, this map traces a childhood spent counting the days to the Giostra del Saracino, the medieval joust that still fills the city every time it comes round.