We
begin
and end this excursion in Florence, crossing the Arno
Valley through Incisa, San Giovanni Valdarno and
Montevarchi, as far as
Arezzo,the Etruscan's art capital, Roman military station, an important town in
the Middle Ages, and the birthplace of Petrarca and
Vasari. The most important monuments are the Gothic
Church of S. Francesco with its fine 16th c. windows,
Gothic and Renaissance aedicules, and among its many
frescoes, the world-famous Story of the Cross which Piero della Francesca painted beween 1453 and 1464; the
Curch of Santa Maria, with its austere Romanesque
facade, richly carved portal and stout bell-tower with
40 tracery windows, the Gothic Cathedral ( fine stained
glass windows by Guglielmo di Marcillat, Piero della
Francesca's Mary Magdalene, etc.); the Gothic
Church of S. Domenico (Cimabue's Crucifix inside); the
graceful 13th c. Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, and
the remains of the Roman amphitheatre . The Huge
irregular Piazza Grande is the delightful setting of the
Romanesque apse of S. Maria's, the Palazzo del Tribunale,
the Gothic-Renaissance Palazzo della Fraternita` dei
Laici, and Vasari's Palazzo delle Logge v(1573). There
are fine collections in the Galleria and Museo
Archeologico Medievale e Moderno and the Museo
Archeologico Mecenate (with a priceless collection of
relief-carved coralline vases). Arezzo has a number of
major national and international
events (polyphonic
competition), and the traditional "Giostra del Saracino"
jousting tournament in period costume. We now leave for
Castiglion Fiorentino and
Cortona, a town famed for its
art and antiques market in a magnificent natural
setting. We can visit the Church of the Nadonna
del Calcinaio (Francesco di Giorgio Martini, 1485-1513),
and then go up to the Piazza della Repubblica to see the
Palazzo Comunale and Palazzo Pretorio (housing the Museo
dell'Accademia Etrusca, and the Museo Diocesano (with
works by Signorelli, Fra Angelico, Sassetta, Lorenzetti,
etc.). Driving down into Castigllione del Lago on the
banks of Lake Trasimeno, we reach
Chiusi (well endowed
Museo Nazionale Etrusco, and a large Etruscan Necropolis
with some of the finest extant Etruscan tombs), Citta`
della Pieve (works by Perugino, who was born
here), and
Orvieto. Perched on the top of a hill which
time and elements are gradually wearing down, Orvieto
still preserves the typical layout of the medieval
fortress town it was. We can stroll along its silents
streets lined with Renaissance buildings and medieval
houses, and linger a lenght in its unique Gothic
Cathedral on which artists, architets, sculptors and
painters have worked across the ages - Lorenzo Maitani,
Andrea Orcagna, Gentile da Fabriano and Luca Signorelli,
who left his greatest work here (the frescoes in the
cchapel of Madonna di San Brizio). In a 14th c. marble
tabernacle is a famous reliquary, a mastreppiece of the
Italian goldsmiths' craft made of precious metals and
enamels by Ugolino di Vieri, in the chapel of the 'Corporale"
. We can also visit the Museio dell'opera del duomo, the
municipal
museum, the Piazza del Popolo (12th c.) , the
Church of S. Andrea, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger's
courious S.Patrick's Well (pozzo di San Patrizio) which
was sunk to provide the city with drinking water in case
of siege. Just outside the city is the 4th c. BC Etruscan
necropolis. From Orvieto we pass through Bolsena and
Montefiascone to reach
Viterbo, where virtually all
the typical mediaeval features of the 13th c. "San
Pellegrino" district have remained intact: mullioned
windows, external stair casa, balconies, towers and
loggias. In Piazza San Lorenzo is the Cathedral and
the Papal Palace (13th c.) Other notable monuments
are the 13yh c. fountain, "Fontana Grande", the
Churches
of S. Maria della Verita`, the Madonna della Quercia,
S. Francesco, and the fine archaeological exhibits
in the municipal museum. There are a number of
wonderful visits that can be made using Viterbo as
home base.: Bomarzo and Bagnaia,, the ruins of
Ferento, (Roman theatre and excavations at
Acquarossa), the necropolis at Castel d'Asso, the
Cistercian Abbey of San Cimino, and the mediaeval
town of Vetralla, in the heart of Norchia, one of
the most important archaeological areas of Tuscia.
(a splendid necopolis hewn into the rocks), and San
Giovenale (where prehistoric settlements and an
Etruscan town have been unearthed). After Viterbo,
we still skirt Lake Vico and the step tufa stone
hill on which the little town off Sutri is built
with the ruins of the Etruscan (or Roman)
amphitheatre and the church of Madonna del Parto on
the site of an Etruscan tomb, dedicated to Mithras
before becoming a Christian place of worship, both
carved out of solid rock, and the reach isola
Farnese to see the ruins of the Etruscan city
of Veii where a 6th c,. BC statue of Apollo was
found in 1916 (now in the Villa Giulia Museum , in
Rome) The tomb in the museum are famous
throughout the world, expecially the "Campana"
tom with the painted lions.
Only
12 liles from Rome we will take the Aurelian Way
north to
Cerveteri,one of the most important cities
of ancien Etruria. Its necropolis covers a large
beautiful are studded with cy presses, olive groves,
broom and laurel bushes. We are going to visit the
tombs of the "Capitals" , "Reliefs" (with supreme
polychrome stucco work) , "Greek Vases" , "Shield
and Chairs", "Ship", "Sarcophagi" and the "Alcove"
which is built to resemble a house with a bridal
chamber. If we have time, we ought to see the Museo
Nazionale Cerite. Passing Santa Severa, Santa
Marinella and Civitavecchia we reach
Tarquinia, whose
towers, palaces and mediaeval churches risse up amid
rocks and oive grows. The most beautiful church i s
the Romanesque S. Maria di Cstello. Th eaustere
Gothi-Renaissance Palazzo Vitelleschi is the home of
one of Italy's leading Etruscan Museums (high relief
with two horses, vases, frescoes taken from several
tombs, etc.) . But Tarquinia's main attraction is
the Etruscan Necropolis to which you gain access
through the museum. This huge burial ground covers a
large area of countryside (6th-2 centuries BC), and
the tombs are decorated with frescoesthat give a
unique pictorial account of the cutoms, beliefs and
culture of this ancien people. We suggest a detour
through Tuscania
(Churches of S. Pietro and S. Maria
Maggiore, small museum) before going to Montalto di
Castro, near the Excavations of the Etruscan town of
Vulci, Ansedonia, Orbetello, as far as Grosseto, in
the heart of the Maremma region (the walls and
fortress buil by the Medicis, Cathedral,
archaelogical museim) Vetulonia has another major
Etruscan burial ground. On the way to Siena along
minor roads, we can see
Massa Marittima (paces of various ages,
the Romanesque-Gothic cathedral, archaelogical
museum) and the charming ruins of the Cistercian
Abbey of San Galgano.
Siena is a perfect
preserved mediaeval city with so many signs of its
past greatness; it is a major artistic center which
deserves a much longer detailed description than we
have space for. Its shell-shaped central square -
Piazza del Campo - is the setting for the
twice-yearly "palio" horse-race; the Palazzo
Pubblico (1297-1342) with its tall slender
Mangia tower (102 maters; 334 foots) , containing
the municipal museum (works by Simone Martini,
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Jacopo della Quercia, etc.),
the Renaissance Palazzo Piccolomini, the church of
Santa Maria dei Servi, the Loggia della Mercanzia,
the typical Via di Citta` with Palazzo
Chigi-Saracini (14c., and home of the celebrated
Accademia Musicale). Walking through the silent ,
narrow mediaeval steets we come to Piazza del Duomo
overshadowed by the tall marble Cathedral, one of
the most remarkable examples of Italian Gothic. We
will then visit the Baptistery, the Museo dell'Opera
Metropolitana (full of masterpieces by
Jacopo
della Quercia, Giovanni Pisano, Ambrogio Lorenzetti,
Simone Martini, of which the most outstanding work
is perhaps the " Maesta` By Duccio di Boninsegna),
the Pinacoteca Nazionale (picture gallery with
Sienese paintings from the 12th c. to the 17th c.).
Then there are the churches: S. Francesco e S.
Domenico, S. Bernardino's Oratory, the Shrine of S.
Catherine of Siena, Utaly's patron saint, (1347-80);
and the Palaces : Salimbeni, Tolomei and Buonsignori,
as well the Archbishops' Palace. The return to
Florence takes us through Colle Val d'Elsa, via the
extraordinary town of
Volterra, which lords it over a vast
valley (Palazzo dei Priori, the Pinacoteca picture
gallery, Romanesque Cathedral and Baptistery;
Etruscan Arch and walls, the Guarnacci Etruscan
Museum) and San Gimignano
- the town of the hundred towers, with its magnificien palaces , Romanesque Collegiate Church,
frescoed by Ghirlandaio and Benozzo Gozzoli, with
sculptures by Jacopo della Quercia, Palazzo del
Popolo (museum) nand the Church of S. Agostino . Our
last stop before Florence will be Boccaccio's
birthplace, Certaldo.
The
Mysterious Etruscans
r with
40 tracery windows, the Gothic Cathedral ( fine stained
glass windows by Guglielmo di Marcillat, Piero della
Francesca's Mary Magdalene, etc.); the Gothic
Church of S. Domenico (Cimabue's Crucifix inside); the
graceful 13th c. Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, and
the remains of the Roman amphitheatre . The Huge
irregular Piazza Grande is the delightful setting of the
Romanesque apse of S. Maria's, the Palazzo del Tribunale,
the Gothic-Renaissance Palazzo della Fraternita` dei
Laici, and Vasari's Palazzo delle Logge v(1573). There
are fine collections in the Galleria and Museo
Archeologico Medievale e Moderno and the Museo
Archeologico Mecenate (with a priceless collection of
relief-carved coralline vases). Arezzo has a number of
major national and international
events (polyphonic
competition), and the traditional "Giostra del Saracino"
jousting tournament in period costume. We now leave for
Castiglion Fiorentino and
(works by Perugino, who was born
here), and
museum, the Piazza del Popolo (12th c.) , the
Church of S. Andrea, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger's
courious S.Patrick's Well (pozzo di San Patrizio) which
was sunk to provide the city with drinking water in case
of siege. Just outside the city is the 4th c. BC Etruscan
necropolis. From Orvieto we pass through Bolsena and
Montefiascone to reach
Churches
of S. Maria della Verita`, the Madonna della Quercia,
S. Francesco, and the fine archaeological exhibits
in the municipal museum. There are a number of
wonderful visits that can be made using Viterbo as
home base.: Bomarzo and Bagnaia,, the ruins of
Ferento, (Roman theatre and excavations at
Acquarossa), the necropolis at Castel d'Asso, the
Cistercian Abbey of San Cimino, and the mediaeval
town of Vetralla, in the heart of Norchia, one of
the most important archaeological areas of Tuscia.
(a splendid necopolis hewn into the rocks), and San
Giovenale (where prehistoric settlements and an
Etruscan town have been unearthed). After Viterbo,
we still skirt Lake Vico and the step tufa stone
hill on which the little town off Sutri is built
with the ruins of the Etruscan (or Roman)
amphitheatre and the church of Madonna del Parto on
the site of an Etruscan tomb, dedicated to Mithras
before becoming a Christian place of worship, both
carved out of solid rock, and the reach isola
Farnese to see the ruins of the Etruscan city
of Veii where a 6th c,. BC statue of Apollo was
found in 1916 (now in the Villa Giulia Museum , in
Rome) The tomb in the museum are famous
throughout the world, expecially the "Campana"
tom with the painted lions.
Only
12 liles from Rome we will take the Aurelian Way
north to
Maggiore, small museum) before going to Montalto di
Castro, near the Excavations of the Etruscan town of
Vulci, Ansedonia, Orbetello, as far as Grosseto, in
the heart of the Maremma region (the walls and
fortress buil by the Medicis, Cathedral,
archaelogical museim) Vetulonia has another major
Etruscan burial ground. On the way to Siena along
minor roads, we can see
Massa Marittima (paces of various ages,
the Romanesque-Gothic cathedral, archaelogical
museum) and the charming ruins of the Cistercian
Abbey of San Galgano.
Jacopo
della Quercia, Giovanni Pisano, Ambrogio Lorenzetti,
Simone Martini, of which the most outstanding work
is perhaps the " Maesta` By Duccio di Boninsegna),
the Pinacoteca Nazionale (picture gallery with
Sienese paintings from the 12th c. to the 17th c.).
Then there are the churches: S. Francesco e S.
Domenico, S. Bernardino's Oratory, the Shrine of S.
Catherine of Siena, Utaly's patron saint, (1347-80);
and the Palaces : Salimbeni, Tolomei and Buonsignori,
as well the Archbishops' Palace. The return to
Florence takes us through Colle Val d'Elsa, via the
extraordinary town of
