During urban redevelopment works in Piazza San Francesco in Arezzo, between 1986 and 1989, a portion of the ancient city was uncovered, now visible in the space created beneath the sacristy. This represents an extraordinary cross-section of the multi-layered urban reality of Arretium spanning from the Etruscan and Roman phases to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and post-Renaissance periods. After an initial settlement dating back to the archaic Etruscan period, a neighborhood was established in the Hellenistic age, of which remain a cobbled street section made with river pebbles, some wall structures, and a stone-lined well; a rich domus dating to the second half of the 1st century BC developed over two terraces and was decorated with floor mosaics, painted plasters, and precious marbles. It was probably violently destroyed, as suggested by the burnt roof beams collapsed onto the floors, and abandoned by the end of the 2nd century AD. At least a portion of the building was reoccupied in late antiquity (4th – early 5th century AD), as evidenced by the extraordinary find in the corner of one of the rooms on the lower terrace of a mensa vasorum (a cupboard) constructed partly of wood and partly of reused stones and bricks, containing fire pottery, preservation vessels, and tableware. Above layers of structural collapse, debris accumulation, and abandonment, the excavation revealed a series of structures related to the construction site of the Church of San Francesco (early 14th century), lime kilns and bell kilns, while to the Renaissance and post-Renaissance phases belong the piazza well (after its closure in 1639 used as support for the Fossombroni statue), a long arcade structure likely part of one of the buildings overlooking the original square, and brick chest tombs from the cemetery area present in the sacristy.
Information on the Archaeological Area of the Sub-Sacristy of San Francesco
San Francesco,
Arezzo (Arezzo)
Source: MIBACT
