Arezzo - Cathedral

On the highest point of the hill stands the cathedral, occupying the site of an earlier Benedictine church, San Pietro Maggiore. It was begun in 1277, continued in 1313 and 1510 but not completed until the beginning of the 20th century. The campanile was built in 1857-60, the façade with its three doorways and large rose-window added between 1900 and 1914.

Interior

The interior (aisled, without transept) is in the severe architectural style of the Mendicant Orders (Franciscans, Dominicans). It contains a number of notable works of art. Windows by Fra Guillaume de Marcillat

In the right-hand aisle are stained-glass windows by Guillaume de Marcillat (1477-1529), a Frenchman who worked almost exclusively in Italy: "The Calling of Matthew", "The Woman taken in Adultery", "The Cleansing of the Temple", "The Raising of Lazarus". Here, too, are the Tomb (after 1320) of Pope Gregory X (d. 1276) and the Burial Chapel of Ciuccio Tarlati (1334), with marble ornament and a fresco. In the presbytery is the high altar, with the Late Gothic tomb and relics of St Donatus, Bishop of Arezzo, martyred in the time of Diocletian. The tomb has marble reliefs of scenes from the Saint's life. The chapel to the left of the presbytery has a stained-glass window by Marcillat ("SS Lucia and Silvester"); the sacristy has fine frescoes and terracottas. In the left-hand aisle are a fresco, "The Magdalene" by Piero della Francesca (1459), the Tomb of Bishop Guido Tarlati (c. 1330), with 16 fine bas-reliefs, and the organ gallery by Giorgio Vasari (1535). Opening off this aisle are the Chapel of the Madonna del Conforto (18th-19th centuries), partly in Neo-Gothic and partly in Classical style, and the baptistery.