.
For the afternoon we headed to Arezzo, a town that fans of Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful will recognize. It is where the main characters lived during the first part of the movie.
The city's historic center is surrounded by a medieval wall, with a number of gates to pass through.
Our first stop was the city's Roman amphitheater, or what's left of it. While I'm a big fan any type of ancient Roman site, the visit was driven primarily by the fact that the adjacent museum offered shelter from what was left of the passing storm.
The city definitely had a medieval feel to it, with plenty of towers and buildings with castle-like architecture on most streets.
The following is Arezzo's cathedral, whose construction began in the 13th century.
I preferred the Santa Maria della Pieve church, which had a much more interesting look to it given its three loggias and massive tower. It was built over 1,000 years ago and seems to have held up pretty well over the course of a millenium.
The highlight of our visit to Arezzo was the Basilica of San Francesco, a 13th-century church dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi. While it may not look overly impressive from the outside, the interior includes the 15th-century frescos of the Legend of the True Cross.
Photos were prohibited, but I found one online that shows a few of the frescos. It doesn't fully capture the experience, but at least offers some perspective.
With Emilie's English Patient Pilgrimage finally complete, we headed back to our hotel outside Perugia. By this point the sun had come back out, which offered a nice late-afternoon view of the surrounding landscape.
Next we visited the Piazza Grande, the city's central plaza and the site of its main marketplace during medieval times.
The city definitely had a medieval feel to it, with plenty of towers and buildings with castle-like architecture on most streets.
The following is Arezzo's cathedral, whose construction began in the 13th century.
I preferred the Santa Maria della Pieve church, which had a much more interesting look to it given its three loggias and massive tower. It was built over 1,000 years ago and seems to have held up pretty well over the course of a millenium.
The highlight of our visit to Arezzo was the Basilica of San Francesco, a 13th-century church dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi. While it may not look overly impressive from the outside, the interior includes the 15th-century frescos of the Legend of the True Cross.
Photos were prohibited, but I found one online that shows a few of the frescos. It doesn't fully capture the experience, but at least offers some perspective.
I subsequently learned that there was an underlying reason for our visit to Arezzo, and the basilica in particular -- The English Patient. One of Emilie's favorite scenes was filmed inside the church, where Julliette Binoche's character got a VIP tour of the frescos...
With Emilie's English Patient Pilgrimage finally complete, we headed back to our hotel outside Perugia. By this point the sun had come back out, which offered a nice late-afternoon view of the surrounding landscape.
No comments:
Post a Comment