Dwight Peck's personal website

Tuscany in the off-season

Arezzo and the neighborhood in February and early March, 2015


You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

Arezzo was at the top of our list when we based ourselves in Lucca a few months ago, but we never made it this far south. So here we are now, based in Arezzo this time, with lots to see roundabout.

Arezzo: the Museo Statale d'Arte Medievale e Moderna, or Civic Museum

Today's agenda calls for a visit to Poppi, but on the way out of Arezzo we're visiting the Museo Statale d'Arte Medievale e Moderna, or Civic Museum, which was closed when we've tried earlier.

It's an excellent museum with lots to see, but there was a biblical windstorm last night and the electricity in the neighborhood was blinking on and off. The unnerved staff, anxious to close the place up, graciously allowed us to sprint through the whole museum without pausing for breath.

Nonetheless, we've grabbed some hasty photos that give a sense of the place and its virtues, some of which especially caught our fancy, and some of which just weren't as blurry as the rest.

This, to begin with. The Civic Museum is housed in what had been the mid-15th century Dogana Palace, or state Customs House -- it was built, over 14th century buildings, by the family of the humanist author and statesman Leonardo Bruni, who was born in Arezzo and served as Chancellor of Florence for many years as well as apostolic secretary to four popes. His History of Florentine people has been called 'the first modern history book'.

Etruscan hallelujahs, with snakes on

-- Hello, everyone, welcome to our museum.

-- Ecce homo junior

The lights are on for the moment, but we're being kindly implored by the staff to hasten.

St Michael the Dragon-Slayer

Man of Sorrows, with Virgin and St John and lots of other faces and hands and a chicken, by Spinello Aretino, ca. 1395

Saint Barbara and her tower with three windows, patron saint of military engineers, and Saint James the Greater, with a tiny donor, by Giovanni di Balduccio, ca. 1414

A great room, with a colorful big wooden panel in pride of place

A Madonna della Misericordia, Madonna of Mercy, with stories of Saints Laurentinus and his brother Pergentinus, martyred in Arezzo supposedly by Emperor Decius in 251. By Parri di Spinello of Arezzo, ca. 1437, son of Spinello Aretino, known for his very very tall people.

Two Saint Roccos with his buboes, both by Bartolomeo della Gatta: the first, protecting Arezzo from the plague, 1482, the second, standing in front of the Palazzo of the Lay Fraternity in the Piazza Grande, Arezzo, 1479.

The workshop of Andrea della Robbia, glazed terracotta 'Madonna and Child with Saints Sebastian and Julian', ca. 1498

Thousands of maiolica plates, dishes, cups, and what not, with lively mythological scenes

A plate with the story of Medea, ca. 1550

The story of Daedalus lending an artisan's hand to Pasiphae and her bull-boyfriend (how awkward)

Helen of Troy before King Priam

Moving on: This is Michelangelo presenting his first work of sculpture to Lorenzo Medici the Magnificent (Tommaso Sebastiani, early 19th century)

Scena tragica/A tragic scene, Pia Ricci, ca. 1880 (very different from all his costumed nobility). The museum staff, who've generously let us hurry through the halls amid blackouts, are ushering us along with plaintive cries, so a lot of these photos have been shot at a full run past.

The room of huge paintings

Allegory of the Immaculate Conception, Vasari, ca. 1542 (no explanations provided)

Madonna della Misericordia, ca. 1520

Gruesome kid

Over the years we've talked Kristin into sticking her hand into the mouths of hundreds of Italian stone lions.

And now we're off to Poppi Castle for the rest of the day.


Feedback and suggestions are welcome if positive, resented if negative, . All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 5 May 2015.


Arezzo trip,
Feb.-March 2015