Arrezo

Today we went on a trio to Arezzo which is only a 20 minute bus ride from Castiglion. The city is really great because it is smaller then Florence which is very large and crowded but bigger then our little town. We got in pretty early and of course got coffee first. San Francesco cathedral was our first stop and it was very beautiful. The architecture on the outer facade was neat in that it had 3 rows of columns with each row getting smaller as you went up. And each column on all the rows was decorated differently, so it really looked great all together. Then we checked out the Pieve Saint Maria which has the True Cross Fresco which is very beautiful. It basically tells a fictional story throughout the different panels but its really elaborate for fresco painting. That was all we did officially as a group. We got some pizza by the slice from a little shop that was great and a lot better than the food in Florence. We window shopped a little and then went up to this beautiful park that had panoramic views of the countryside. In the park there is an old medieval fortress that we explored and sketched at for a while. The church right at the end of the park was probably my favorite we've seen so far. It was massive and everything in it was so stunning. The entire vaulted ceiling was painted with fresco and there was an amazing alter piece as well.

As you can probably tell, I didn't bring my camera today cause I was afraid it was going to start raining.. which it did. I'll be going back to Arrezo on Sunday though for the Antique fare so maybe I will bring my camera and try and get some of the better shots I saw today. Tomorrow is my birthday and another trip to Florence so I'm very excited! Until then, Ciao!