Museum visits · Arezzo · Italy
The Museum of Medieval and Modern Art in Arezzo
twenty rooms in Palazzo Bruni Ciocchi, from Margaritone's gold-ground panels to Vasari's Banquet
The museum occupies Palazzo Bruni Ciocchi, on via San Lorentino, and has done since 1972: three floors around an arcaded courtyard of pietra serena, with a roof garden on the first floor. The twenty rooms run in chronological order, from the early Middle Ages to the nineteenth century, and take two to three hours, up to four depending on how long you stop. The piece that holds the whole visit together hangs in a corridor: the Banquet for the Wedding of Esther and Ahasuerus, painted by Vasari in 1548 for the refectory of the Badia. It is a state museum with few crowds, and you notice.
Getting there
- From the Tarlati car park, on via Guido Tarlati, take the escalator that starts about two hundred metres from the car park exit
- At the top of the escalator head towards the walls and then turn into via San Lorentino: the palace is on the left, recognisable by its rusticated stonework
- The route goes through the Porta del Foro quarter, well lit and quiet even at dusk
Practical information
Duration two to three hours for the full route, up to four if you linger over the gold-ground panels and the Banquet
Price 6 euros full, 2 euros reduced, free on the first Sunday of the month
Suitable for anyone who wants to see medieval and Renaissance Arezzo without queueing; marble and stone floors, comfortable shoes are worth it
Booking not needed to visit on your own; guided tours are booked by contacting the museum
Contacts
Where it is
Arezzo · Toscana
You set off from
Notes
- Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday 8:30-19:00; Thursday, Friday and Saturday 8:30-13:30; first and third Sunday of the month and weekday public holidays 8:30-13:30; closed on Mondays, and also on 1 January and 25 December
- Last entry one hour before closing: 18:00 on Tuesday and Wednesday, 12:30 on the other opening days
- Tickets bought online carry a 3 euro booking fee; there is a combined ticket for the Arezzo museum circuit at 17 euros full and 8 reduced
- Guided tours are booked by contacting the museum; the number 0575 1696257 and the address info@arezzointour.it, which go around as the museum's own, belong to an outside tour service and are worth checking before you use them
- There are no official audio guides: every room has panels in Italian and English
- Photography is allowed without flash
- There is no café inside, but there are public drinking fountains in the old town
- The first floor also holds detached frescoes by Spinello Aretino and his son Parri, the Madonna della Misericordia, paintings by Bartolomeo della Gatta, Renaissance maiolica, ivories and goldsmiths' work; the second floor Luca Signorelli and the Macchiaioli Fattori, Signorini, Gioli and Cecioni
- Entry is free on the first Sunday of the month, which is also antiques fair day in Piazza Grande: expect both museum and town to be busier than usual
Photo: discoverarezzo.com
Photo: discoverarezzo.com
