Arezzo
[key], city, capital of Arezzo prov., Tuscany, central Italy. It is an agricultural trade
center and has machine, clothing, gold, and jewelry industries. Arezzo was an Etruscan town,
later became a Roman military station and colony, and was made (11th cent.) a free commune.
Siding with the Ghibellines, it was defeated (1289) at Campaldino by Florence, to which it
passed definitively in 1384. In Roman times the famous red-clay Arretine vases were made
there. Arezzo was a center of learning and the arts in the Middle Ages; Guido d'Arezzo,
Petrarch, Aretino, and Vasari were born there. The city retains much of its medieval
character. Noteworthy buildings include the Gothic cathedral (1286–1510); the Gothic
Church of San Francesco (14th cent.), with frescoes of the Legend of the Holy Cross executed
(1452–66) by Piero della Francesca; the Romanesque Church of Santa Maria della Pieve
(1330); Bruni Palace (15th cent.), which now houses an art gallery and museum; and Vasari's
mansion (decorated by Vasari in 1540).
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