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Heat has become the dominant story of the past couple of days. We expected the days to be warm in late-June, but we were not anticipating that we would be caught in an unprecedented European heat wave. The temperatures have been shattering long-established records in France, and they aren’t that much cooler in central Italy.
We departed Subbiano a little before 8:00. This stage was supposed to be short and fairly easy. In fact, apart from the temperature (it was already above 80F when we set out), it was not too bad.
The stage crossed the Arno River and followed it south for the first half. We had one small patch in which the blackberry brambles closed in around us, but there were no significant difficulties. At roughly the halfway mark, the stage crossed the Arno on a footbridge and ascended to the small town of Giovi.
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| Church, Giovi |
This is a tiny, quiet town. It had a pleasant little piazza just up from the river. We looked at the exterior of the church (it was locked), and spoke with two elderly women sitting in front of their front door sewing.
They were very interested in us. We explained who we were and what we were doing. One of the ladies clucked in disbelief. “Have you ever walked to Rome?” asked Mary.
“No,” replied the lady. She pulled up her dress. “Bad knees.”
We continued. According to the road signs, Arezzo was only seven kilometers from Giovi, but that was by the direct route. The Via takes a circuitous course through the Tuscan countryside, and up and over the hill that it is home to the town of Puglia. We sweated past the groves of olives, rows of grapes, and twin lines of cypress trees, aimed like dusky green daggers at the hot sky.
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| Approaching Arezzo |
It took us more than five hours to reach Arezzo. That is much slower than our usual speed, especially over terrain that is largely flat. I think the heat is slowing us down. We did make it however, and got under shelter in a lovely air conditioned apartment. As we walked through the suburbs, I saw one temperature sign at a pharmacy that indicated it was 38C, which is slightly more than 100F. Too hot for me.
Since we had not seen Arezzo on the way in, we resolved to spend the next morning, when the temperature would be lower, playing tourist and taking in some of the sights. A little after 9:00 AM, we climbed up the hill, through the San Clemente Gate, and entered the city.
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| Porta San Clemente |
Arezzo was originally an Etruscan city. It was captured by the Romans, and became the third largest city in Roman Italy. After the Empire ended in the West, Arezzo was ruled by Lombards, bishops, and ultimately, it came under the control of Florence. It went into a decline in the late Medieval period and became a bit of a backwater in Italy.
Nevertheless, some very famous people have lived here, including Francesco Petrarch (the father of the Renaissance) and Giorgio Vasari (Renaissance architect, painter, and art historian).
We worked our way up the hill and then around to the Duomo. There we discovered a set of escalators that carry people up the hill. What a convenience. They should install some of these on selected parts of the Via.
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| Escalators make Hills Easier |
After visiting the Duomo, we hiked down the hill (since Arezzo is situated on top of a hill, any direction you travel will take you up or down. There’s not much flat land in the town) to the Church of San Francesco. This church is very famous for its cycle of frescoes painted by the artist Piero della Francesco. This art was groundbreaking in its time, a forerunner of the developments that would characterize the artistic innovations of the Renaissance. The best-known of the paintings here is Francesco’s Discovery of the One True Cross, a cycle of frescoes that depicts the Emperor Constantine’s mother, Helena, discovering the cross that Jesus was crucified upon. Even I, someone who is poorly-versed in art history, was impressed. Mary was struck by the croce dipinta, the massive painted crucifix that is suspended above the high altar.
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| The Discovery of the One True Cross |
We circled up to the medieval fortress, but it seemed to be blocked off by what appeared to be some kind of comic book convention. Even in Italy…
I wanted to see Petrarch’s house and a famous loggia named after Vasari. We did both, and as we were both shedding rivers of sweat under our clothing by this time, we took a break in the shade of Vasari’s Loggia at a small bar where we both enjoyed a cool prosecco.
Vasari's Loggia
The time had passed quickly. The sun was intensifying. We had a bite of lunch, and then took one last wander through the streets of the town.
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| Arezzo |
Arezzo is a beautiful city. I wish we had more time here. Even more, I wish we had come in the Spring or Autumn when the temperature was better suited to sightseeing. We shall have to put it onto the growing list of places to which we must return.
Arezzo
Stage Distance: 21 KM
Total Distance: 887.9 KM
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