On the occasion of urban redevelopment works in Piazza San Francesco in Arezzo, between 1986 and 1989 a portion of the ancient city was brought to light, now visible in the space created under the churchyard, which represents an extraordinary cross-section of the multi-layered urban reality of Arretium through the Etruscan and Roman phases up to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and post-Renaissance periods. After an initial occupation dating back to the Archaic Etruscan period, a neighbourhood was established in the Hellenistic era, of which remain a street section paved with river pebbles, some wall structures, and a stone-lined well; to the second half of the 1st century B.C. dates a rich domus developed over two terraces and decorated with floor mosaics, painted plasters and precious marbles, probably destroyed violently, as indicated by the burnt roof beams collapsed on the floors, and abandoned at the end of the 2nd century A.D. At least part of the building was reoccupied in the late period (4th–early 5th century A.D.), as seems to be attested by the extraordinary discovery, in the corner of one of the rooms on the lower terrace, of a mensa vasorum (cupboard) built partly in wood and partly in reused stone and bricks, containing fire, storage and tableware vessels. Above levels of collapse of the upper parts, 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 and bell kilns, while the Renaissance and post-Renaissance phases include the piazza well (after its closure in 1639 used as support for the Fossombroni statue), a long arched structure possibly related to one of the houses overlooking the original piazza, and brick chest tombs from the cemetery area present in the churchyard.
Information on the Archaeological Area of the Sub-Churchyard of San Francesco
San Francesco,
Arezzo (Arezzo)
Source: MIBACT
