Planning a Trip

Getting There

By Train -- The main line between Rome (22 daily; 2 hr.-2 hr., 55 min.) and Florence (45 daily; 40-90 min.) also passes Chiusi/Chianciano Terme (24 daily; 35-70 min.) and Orvieto (15 daily; 50-80 min.) on its way to Arezzo. You can transfer at Terontola/Cortona for the dozen daily trains to Perugia (2 1/4 hr. total riding time) and Assisi (2 hr., 40 min.). The train station (tel. 0575-20-553) is at Piazza della Repubblica just southwest of the city walls. All hotels are within a few blocks' walk.

By Car -- The quickest route from Florence or Rome is the A1 autostrada. You can park, usually not free, along Via Niccolò Aretino just inside the southwest corner of the walls and Via B. Alberti, behind the train station. There's free parking on Via Pietri and Vai XXV Aprile.

By Bus -- SITA buses (tel. 0575-749-818; www.sita-on-line.it) from Florence (1 hr., 20 min.-2 hr.) and LFI buses (tel. 0575-324-294) from Siena (1 1/2 hr.) let you off in front of the train station.

Visitor Information

The APT information office is at Piazza della Repubblica 28, just outside the train station (tel. 0575-377-678 or tel./fax 0575-20-839; www.apt.arezzo.it; Mon-Fri 9am-1pm and 3-7pm, Sun 9am-1pm). There's a provincial APT office at Piazza Risorgimento 116 (tel. 0575-23-952 or 0575-23-523; fax 0575-28-042); go up Via Guido Monaco a block and turn right; call for hours. The website www.cittadiarezzo.com is also very helpful for planning a visit.

Festivals & Markets

In the last week of August, Guido Monaco's musical traditions are carried on in a series of choral concerts called the International Polyphonic Conference.

On the third Sunday in June and the first Sunday in September, Arezzo pulls out the stops for a full-fledged medieval jousting tournament, the Giostra del Saracino, dating from at least the 16th century. After an afternoon of complex flag-tossing and pageantry, mounted, armored riders thunder across dirt-lined Piazza del Duomo with their lances aimed at the effigy of a Saracen warrior. The twist is that when the "knights" strike a blow on his shield, the Saracen swivels and his other arm is carrying a whip. Hitting the shield's bull's-eye is only half the trick -- the other is dodging the whip.

On the first Sunday of every month, Piazza del Duomo is filled with more than 600 dealers in one of Italy's leading antiques fairs. The dealers specialize in 19th-century furniture and 17th- to 19th-century glass, but items dating from the Renaissance are well represented (as are items from the 1950s and 1960s). It draws serious collectors from around the world. In winter, the fair runs from 7:30am to 3pm (in summer as late as 7 or 9pm).