Arezzo, Cortona & east

Arezzo and its art

Eastern Tuscany is less visited than Florence and Siena, yet it has some of the region's finest art and most varied countryside. Arezzo is an attractive, prosperous city with a sloping medieval square, the Piazza Grande, and a long tradition of goldsmiths. In the Basilica of San Francesco, Piero della Francesca's fresco cycle of the Legend of the True Cross is one of the great works of the early Renaissance.

Arezzo also hosts one of Italy's best-known antiques fairs, held every month in and around the Piazza Grande, and the Giostra del Saracino, a costumed jousting tournament, twice a year.

Cortona and the Val di Chiana

Cortona climbs a steep hillside above the flat, fertile Val di Chiana, with Etruscan foundations, medieval lanes and long views towards Lake Trasimeno. Its museums include Etruscan finds and a much-loved Annunciation by Fra Angelico. The town became widely known in Britain and America through the book Under the Tuscan Sun, and it still makes a lively, sociable base with plenty of restaurants.

The valley below is the home of Chianina cattle, the source of the famous bistecca alla fiorentina, and the hills around Cortona produce well-regarded Syrah. Montepulciano and its Vino Nobile are within easy reach to the west, and the Umbrian shores of Lake Trasimeno to the south east.

The Casentino and the Valtiberina

North of Arezzo, the Casentino is a green valley of castles and forests. The castle at Poppi watches over the upper Arno, and the monastery of Camaldoli and the sanctuary of La Verna, where St Francis received the stigmata, sit high in the forests of the national park. To the east, in the upper Tiber valley, Sansepolcro was Piero della Francesca's birthplace and keeps his Resurrection, while walled Anghiari is a pleasant place for an evening stroll.

Arezzo is on the main railway between Florence and Rome, and Florence airport is roughly an hour's drive away. Spring brings wildflowers and green hills, summer suits a villa with a pool, and autumn means the grape harvest, chestnuts and mushrooms.

This part of Tuscany suits art lovers, walkers and families who want space and good value. Read more about Tuscany, or browse the villas listed below to find your base in the east.