Monte San Savino is an interesting town in the Val di Chiana in the province of Arezzo, located on a hill about 330 meters high. The historic center has medieval and late Renaissance buildings. This town is the birthplace of Andrea Contucci known as Sansovino, famous architect and sculptor of the Renaissance. The area where the village stands today was ...
Read More »Val di Chiana: the granary of Etruria
The Val di Chiana is a large flat area, crossed by the Chiana river, which is located south-west of the city of Arezzo. The Chiana river, an ancient tributary of the Tiber, was diverted by the Romans so that its waters flowed into the Arno, thus reducing the risk of flooding the Tiber in Rome. Val di Chiana was considered ...
Read More »Castle of Montecchio Vesponi
Montecchio Vesponi is located about 4 km south of Castiglion Fiorentino on the road (n ° 71) which goes towards Cortona. The castle, very beautiful and evocative, is placed on a hill, at a height of 364 meters above sea level, which dominates the whole plain below. Passing along the road you cannot do without to be attracted to this ...
Read More »Castiglion Fiorentino: a medieval town
Castiglion Fiorentino is an important town in the Val di Chiana situated on a hill 345 meters high, between Arezzo and Cortona. The village has remote Etruscan origins, it is shown by the remains of Etruscan walls found at the Cassero. During the late archaic and the Hellenistic periods in the area of Castiglion Fiorentino stood an important Etruscan settlement. The ...
Read More »Poppi: an imposing castle and a beautiful medieval village
From a distance the structure that characterizes the village of Poppi is undoubtedly the Castle of the Counts Guidi (or Praetorian Palace), which, with its massive structure dominates the town on the hilltop, but the town is very beautiful even for its porches. Poppi’s history dates back to the twelfth century when it became the main residence of the Counts ...
Read More »Castel Focognano: ancient medieval castle
Castel Focognano is a town in the Casentino situated 28 km from Arezzo, and about 12 km from Bibbiena, the main center and seat of the municipality is the village of Rassina, located in the plains along the valley of the Arno river. The town has kept the name of the old location, Castel Focognano, which until 1778 had been ...
Read More »Casentino: forests, lonely hermitages, nature and tranquility
Casentino is a valley crossed by the River Arno, here is the source of the most important river of Tuscany, set among the hills of Pratomagno and the Tosco-Romagnolo Apennine. The territory covers approximately 800 square kilometers in the northern part of the province of Arezzo. It is bordered to the north by the Emilia-Romagna and to the west by the province ...
Read More »Bibbiena: the most important center of the Casentino
Bibbiena is an important center of the Casentino in the province of Arezzo, is located on a hill 425 meters above sea level at the confluence of the Archiano stream in the Arno river. The area where today stands Bibbiena was populated since Etruscan times, but the foundation of the present town dates back to the Middle Ages. Bibbiena arose ...
Read More »Basilica of San Francesco: the Bacci Chapel
The frescoes of the Legend of the True Cross by Piero della Francesca Basilica of San Francesco faces on the square of the same name that is located halfway between the cathedral square and the walls, in the center of the square is the monument to Vittorio Fossombroni. The Basilica of San Francesco is characterized by a bare facade, unfinished, ...
Read More »Piazza Grande: the most beautiful square in Arezzo
Piazza Grande, the most beautiful public square in Arezzo, is opened in the heart of the medieval city, the square is a mix of buildings of several ages that gives an evocative and scenographic aspect. It has a characteristic trapezial shape, with a strongly tilted surface, the square was the ancient Platea Communis, risen around 13th century and then modified ...
Read More »Arezzo: an important city of art
The city of Arezzo, located at the confluence of four river valleys, was an important Etruscan and Roman town. The Archaeological Museum, located in a former Olivetan monastery, built on part of the Roman Amphitheatre houses many relics of that period. Guido Tarlati, bishop of Arezzo, in the first half of XIV century, transformed the city in a important art and ...
Read More »Cortona: important Etruscan and medieval town
Cortona (23 000 inhabitants) is a beautiful town in the province of Arezzo, which is located on the slopes of a hill about 500 meters high, is now a major tourist city with many tourist attractions primarily Etruscan, Roman, Medieval and Renaissance. The town of Cortona traces its historical roots in the Etruscan period, probably founded between the sixth and ...
Read More »Civitella Val di Chiana: a picturesque medieval village
Civitella in Val di Chiana is a picturesque village perched on a hill 523 meters above sea level. Civitella in historical times was important due to its strategic location in relation to the paths towards Siena and Florence, and his role as garrison in the proximity of the city of Arezzo. The definitive aspect of Civitella is dated to the second ...
Read More »Lucignano: a medieval village in the Val di Chiana
Lucignano (3,500 inhabitants), is a small medieval village of the Val di Chiana, located about 400 meters above sea level, in the province of Arezzo, from which is 33 km away. The origin of Lucignano probably dates from the period of the Roman Empire, when the top of the hill where today the country there was a “castrum” that controlled ...
Read More »Sansepolcro: city of art of the Alta Valtiberina
Sansepolcro rises in the Upper Tiber Valley, in the eastern end of Tuscany, about forty kilometers from the city of Arezzo. Charming Renaissance town, Sansepolcro owes much of its fame to Piero della Francesca, a famous artist who was born here in the early fifteenth century. The center still retains its character as a city of art, with its majestic ...
Read More »Balze of Valdarno: the landscape of the Mona Lisa
A few km from the Autosole A1 Valdarno exit, between Florence and Arezzo it is possible to admire an interesting erosive phenomenon known by the name of Balze. The Balze are one of the most beautiful and fascinating landscape aspects of the Valdarno. These strange natural formations can be seen in the municipalities of Terranova Bracciolini, Loro Ciuffenna, Castelfranco di ...
Read More »Pieve di Gropina: a splendid Romanesque church
The Pieve of Gropina, is located about 2 km from Loro Ciuffenna, on the Via dei Sette Ponti (road of the Seven Bridges) towards San Giustino, to get there take a detour to the right, which after 800 metres from the junction leading to the village of Gropina. A MASTERPIECE OF ROMANIC ART The beautiful Romanesque church of Pieve of ...
Read More »Loro Ciuffenna: a suggestive medieval village
The village is situated on the slopes of Pratomagno at 328 meters above sea level, the actual center is of medieval origin but Loro Ciuffenna has more ancient origins, infact in the area were found Etruscan and Roman artifacts. During the early Roman period, the Lorese territory was crossed by the Cassia Vetus (the path is still very similar to ...
Read More »The farmhouses in Tuscany: in contact with nature
The Agriturismo is a typically Italian hospitality system. Over the years, this tourist reception system has taken on an increasingly tourist and less and less agricultural dimension. By developing facilities that provide the customer with numerous comforts and services such as swimming pools, massages, saunas, riding stables, etc. Tuscany is the Italian region that has the largest number of farmhouses. ...
Read More »The Spas of Tuscany: the region richest in spas
Tuscany, among the Italian regions, is without doubt the most rich in spas, just to mention some popular locations in the world as Montecatini Terme, Chianciano Terme, Saturnia. This region is in fact rich in deposits of thermal water that make it together with Emilia Romagna and Veneto, the most important Italian region for spas. Tuscany is a region that ...
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