Santa Maria della Pieve

Santa Maria della Pieve is a Romanesque church in Arezzo, facing Piazza Grande. Its tiered façade, open bell tower and medieval sculpture make it one of the city's defining landmarks.

Why it matters

The church served as Arezzo's urban baptismal centre. Its origins are traced to the fifth or sixth century, and a larger Romanesque rebuilding began in the twelfth century. The apse and façade were renewed in the first half of the thirteenth century, creating a major example of Tuscan Romanesque architecture.

What to notice

The façade's lower blind arcades and three upper loggias use columns that vary from level to level. The central portal has a 1216 Assumption relief attributed to Marchionne; above it runs the Cycle of the Months, carved by Paduan workshops in the late thirteenth century. The perforated bell tower, completed around 1330, is known as the “hundred holes.” Inside, notable works include Pietro Lorenzetti's polyptych, the painted crucifix attributed to Margarito d'Arezzo and the reliquary bust of Saint Donato.

Context and history

The church was altered under Giorgio Vasari from the 1560s, then remodelled in the Baroque period. A restoration between 1859 and 1880 sought to recover its Romanesque appearance; a Gothic chapel attached to the apse was dismantled in 1865. The building retains traces of these successive changes.