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June & July 2005

Arezzo (Tuscany)

Jeremy Koh
2005-11-05 11:58:07

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At the top of the street, the mammoth Duomo overlooks the rest of the city. For some reason, the Duomo didn't make a big impression on me. Beyond the Duomo, there is a pleasant leafy park leading up to the 16th-century Medici Fortress which offers impressive views over Arezzo and its surrounding countryside. Somehow we didn't see the Medici Fortress, but even without going there, we could still enjoy a panoramic view of the countryside with its many grapevines. From the park, there is a winding road that leads down to the cemetery. The cemetery itself is not huge, but it offers an impressive view of the countryside for departed souls. Just beyond the cemetery, you can see an aqueduct though I don't know its origins. Nonetheless, the countryside around it is very pretty and you should take a stroll there. If you walk there at night, you can even see fireflies if you're lucky.

While Arezzo is a very pleasant place to spend your holiday, it also has good transport links to the rest of the region and beyond. Thus, we took day trips to nearby cities like Florence and Cortona. We also visited a small town Civitella Badia al Pino that's just a short hop away from Arezzo by train. However, don't bother going there if you wanna go sightseeing because there's practically nothing there to see. When we arrived, the streets were all deserted and we're wondering where's all the people. It's a very small town and we walked across it in barely ten minutes. Nearby, there's a vineyard and at the top of a hill near the vineyard, there are a few abandoned houses. We spent some time exploring the dilapidated houses. Suddenly I'm reminded of all the horror flicks I've seen. You know those that have the characters poking their noses where they don't belong and they start dying off one by one. Anyway, nothing did happen to us and we strolled back to town. Finally, we saw some signs of life. People were streaming towards the only church in town. We also met a very friendly priest. Amazingly, despite our language barrier, we managed to communicate using a smattering of Italian and Spanish. He told us that he's been to Asia during the Pope's visit to the Philippines. After our short conversation, he invited us to attend a service in his church. However, we had to catch a train back to Arezzo and we had to decline. Somehow, we felt bad turning him down because he was very keen for us to attend the service.

Anyway, we left town and headed back to Arezzo. Traveling by train in Italy is very easy and convenient but it helps if you speak a smattering of Italian. Get your train or bus tickets from the train station and always remember to validate your tickets before you board the train and if you're taking the bus, validate it near the driver's seat.

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Very detailed descriptions of building structures and the town which can definitely draw readers into visiting this lovely. peaceful town.

Prema, 2005-11-17 04:49:13