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Arezzo, Italy

Arezzo
Comune
Comune di Arezzo
Piazza Grande; from left - Santa Maria della Pieve, the old Tribunal Palace and the Lay Fraternity.
Piazza Grande; from left - Santa Maria della Pieve, the old Tribunal Palace and the Lay Fraternity.
Coat of arms of Arezzo
Coat of arms
Arezzo is located in Italy
Arezzo
Arezzo
Location of Arezzo in Italy
Coordinates: 43°28′24″N 11°52′12″E / 43.47333°N 11.87000°E / 43.47333; 11.87000Coordinates: 43°28′24″N 11°52′12″E / 43.47333°N 11.87000°E / 43.47333; 11.87000
Country Italy
Region Tuscany
Province / Metropolitan city Arezzo (AR)
Frazioni see list
Government
 • Mayor Alessandro Ghinelli (FI)
Area
 • Total 386.25 km2 (149.13 sq mi)
Elevation 296 m (971 ft)
Population (31 December 2013)
 • Total 99,232
 • Density 260/km2 (670/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Aretini
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 52100
Dialing code 0575
Patron saint Saint Donatus of Arezzo
Saint day 7 August
Website Official website

Arezzo (Italian pronunciation: [aˈrettso]) is a city and comune in Italy, capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of Florence at an elevation of 296 metres (971 ft) above sea level. It is also 30 km west of Città di Castello. In 2013 the population was about 99,000.

Described by Livy as one of the Capitae Etruriae (Etruscan capitals), Arezzo (Aritim in Etruscan) is believed to have been one of the twelve most important Etruscan cities—the so-called Dodecapolis, part of the Etruscan League. Etruscan remains establish that the acropolis of San Cornelio, a small hill next to that of San Donatus, was occupied and fortified in the Etruscan period. There is other significant Etruscan evidence: parts of walls, an Etruscan necropolis on Poggio del Sole (still named "Hill of the Sun"), and most famously, the two bronzes, the "Chimera of Arezzo" (5th century BC) and the "Minerva" (4th century BC) which were discovered in the 16th century and taken to Florence. Increasing trade connections with Greece also brought some elite goods to the Etruscan nobles of Arezzo: the krater painted by Euphronios ca 510 BC depicting a battle against Amazons (in the Museo Civico, Arezzo 1465) is unsurpassed.

Conquered by the Romans in 311 BC, Arretium became a military station on the via Cassia, the road by which Rome expanded into the basin of the Po. Arretium sided with Marius in the Roman Civil War, and the victorious Sulla planted a colony of his veterans in the half-demolished city, as Arretium Fidens ("Faithful Arretium"). The old Etruscan aristocracy was not extinguished: Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, whose name is eponymous with "patron of the arts", was of the noble Aretine Etruscan stock. The city continued to flourish as Arretium Vetus ("Old Arretium"), the third largest city in Italy in the Augustan period, well known in particular for its widely exported pottery manufactures, the characteristic moulded and glazed Arretine ware, bucchero-ware of dark clay and red-painted vases (the so-called "coral" vases).


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Wikipedia

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