Arezzo and Cortona

Overview

This area of Tuscany is outside the typical tourist routes and will allow you to breathe the charm of a land still living at a slower pace, where nature and man appear to have found a perfect millenary balance. Here, in addition to enchanted landscapes, we will also discover a series of art history masterpieces and walk through streets and piazzas still imbued in all their ancient charm.

Places

Arezzo
- Church of San Domenico and Cimabue’s Crucifix
- Cathedral of Saints Donatus and Peter
- Piazza Grande
- The Romanesque Pieve of St. Maria Assunta

Cortona
- Bifora Gate
- Piazza della Repubblica, Municipal Palazzo and Church of St. Francis
- Piazza Signorelli and Palazzo Casali
- Duomo of Santa Maria

Info

Tour duration: 7 hours

The tour consists of an outdoor walk and it’s suitable for all visitors but does involve dealing with some climbs and slopes.

We recommend dressing in an appropriate way as we will be visiting holy places.

We can help you find the best solution to get to Cortona and Arezzo: contact us!

Do not hesitate to ask us information on opening hours, fees and bookings.

Fees

Guided tour starting from 300,00 € max 7 hours

The fees do not include museum tickets, transportation costs or the rental of radio systems.
We can manage the rental, on request.

By booking this tour we can follow you step by step, helping you to make the reservations for the church and the headsets. If you are planning to visit the museum independently, we recommend reading our BLOG instead.

What to expect

Our tour starts from Arezzo, with an introduction to the history of the city. After passing under the medieval walls, we will revisit the various phases of the city’s development, from its Etruscan foundation to the Middle Ages and its conquest by the Medici during the Renaissance. The first stop on our tour is the Church of San Domenico featuring the splendid Crucifix painted by Cimabue, an example of early Renaissance innovations. Our visit will then proceed by climbing towards the Cathedral of the Saints Donatus and Peter, which contains a splendid fresco of Mary Magdalene painted by Piero della Francesca, the best known artist from Arezzo and among the main disseminators of Renaissance innovations across the various Italian courts. The Cathedral also offers the chance to admire the gorgeous stained windows by the French artist Guillaume de Marcillat, and before continuing our visit on the city streets we will stop in front of the main local religious symbol: the Madonna del Conforto Chapel. Another highly symbolic location in the city is Piazza Grande with its Loggias designed by Vasari, where twice a year the medieval-born Saracen Joust takes place. Our last stop for the morning is the so-called Church of the Aretini, Santa Maria della pieve. Its portal features a gorgeous sculpture depicting the cycle of Months. In the afternoon, we will continue our visit in Cortona. One of the most suggestive places in Tuscany, this small town is perched on a hill and surrounded by unforgettable dreamlike landscapes. Here you can breathe a slower rhythm of life, made of small gestures that have been repeated for thousands of years, in a perfect balance between man and nature. We will walk the narrow streets of the town, amidst artisan workshops and typical Italian gastronomic products. During our walk, as we encounter piazzas, churches (such as the Duomo di Santa Maria) and buildings once owned by the most important local families, we shall narrate the history of the town before finally reaching the square of the Municipal Palazzo, the heart of Cortona, another place we are sure you will never forget.