Piazza Grande, Arezzo: what to see and what to do
There is a special place in Arezzo where different evocative historical eras have come together in an architectural marriage made of spatial harmony and the ability to amaze with spectacular special effects: it is the amazing Piazza Grande (also known as Piazza Vasari), the most beautiful of Arezzo (and among the most beautiful in Tuscany) immersed in a medieval frame, placed in the double breast with a peculiar trapezoidal physiognomy and a curiously accentuated inclination that shows a difference of 10 meters between the highest and the lowest point, perfectly set among the tourist jewels of Arezzo.
It was born as Platea Communis around 1200 – where the Roman Forum probably raged centuries earlier – to be modified and resized over time with the enriching addition of the Vasari loggia. The fulcrum in the communal age of trade and mercantile connections between the urban area and the hinterland, evolved into the center of the civil offices in the Medici era, gradually surrounding itself with bombastic buildings with a strong political and religious appeal.
The buildings of Piazza Grande
This is the case of the gigantic Palazzo delle Logge, the work of the architect Giorgio Vasari (his historic home is not to be missed nearby) complete with a large portico and long-lived artisan shops. From an exponent of the Renaissance conception we pass to the Palazzo della fraternita dei Laici, an example of an elegant Gothic-Renaissance fusion from the fourteenth century entrusted to Baldino di Cino and Niccolò di Francesco, who were succeeded in the continuation of the construction of the facade by Bernardo da Rossellino, Giuliano and Algozzo da Settignano, ferrymen of the entire plant until the 16th century, when there was the final addition of the bell tower with the clock that detects the movement of the sun but also the phases of the moon thanks to the clever conception of Felice da Fossato in 1552.
Right next to it, the Palazzo del Tribunale demands its share of admiration, a building of evident Baroque style erected between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that proudly flaunts its distinctive atypical and seductive semicircular staircase. Nearby, the jets of water from a wonderful public fountain gush out and instill that breath of visual lightness that is necessary and very welcome to passers-by ready to cool off especially on the hottest summer days.
The apse of the Pieve di Santa Maria overlooks the opposite side, that is Corso Italia, giving a marked Romanesque touch while Piazza Grande outlines the other two sides, fascinating with old medieval houses, wooden gallery and crenelated towers.
The events and demonstrations in Piazza Grande
The thirteenth-century is the father of the Torre Faggiolana, Palazzo Cofani-Brizzolari and casatorre dei Lappoli, which complete an attractive scenario for events capable of involving the population with healthy energy, see the Giostra del Saracino – knightly tournament with an attached historical procession consisting of three hundred figures and stage flag-wavers in June (Giostra di San Donato) and September (Giostra di Settembre) – and the participated Antiques Fair organized since 1968 on the first Saturday and Sunday of the month, in which collectors from all over are the protagonists the boot to exhibit artifacts, paintings, books and objects of various kinds. The starting point of the Giostra’s careers is an old well-maintained octagonal well, with a sloping canopy supported by two square-plan pillars and wooden beams.
During the Advent period and the Christmas holidays, the square also hosts the traditional Christmas markets of Arezzo.
Arezzo met with the favor of Roberto Benigni, who shot most of the filming of his masterpiece “Life is beautiful” in the city. On several occasions, Piazza Grande appears, which is the backdrop to the cycling raids of the protagonist Guido.
How to get to Piazza Grande
Arezzo is served by the A1 Autostrada del Sole Milan-Naples and is located along the railway lines Florence-Rome, Arezzo-Stia and Arezzo-Sinalunga (the latter local) with a stop at the Piazza Repubblica station, where there is also a parking for car. Several ATAM buses circulate in the city but the historic center must be covered on foot due to the slope of the ground.
The Florence airport is approx. 95 km from Arezzo. Another convenient parking is the one in via Pietri, north of the historic center, and from here you can use the (free) escalators to reach the center and Piazza Grande.
