The Piero Trail
Piero della Francesca is one of the most admired 15th-century Italian artists and Tuscany and its neighbouring regions are home to more than their share of his masterpieces.
Journey from the home of Piero della Francesca in Sansepolcro, Toscana, across the stunning landscapes of Emilia-Romagna, Le Marche and Umbria, and through the medieval towns and grand cities immortalised in Piero’s masterpieces.
Masterpieces on the Piero Trail
the Piero Trail
THrough Tuscany and into Umbria, Marche and Emilia Romagna
Sansepolcro, Tuscany
Arezzo, Tuscany
Monterchi, Tuscany
Perugia, Umbria
Urbino, Le Marche
Rimini, Emilia-Romagna
Firenze, Tuscany
Sansepolcro
Toscana, 53km, 60 mins
Piero was born in Borgo San Sepolcro around 1412. In the 1430s, he left his home town for Firenze, to begin his career as a painter in the workshop of Domenico Veneziano.
Piero returned to Borgo San Sepolcro in the early 1440s, where he painted The Baptism of Christ for the church of San Giovanni in Val d’Afra (now in the National Gallery, London). In 1445 he was commissioned to paint the Polyptych of the Misericordia, completed in 1460, now on display in the Museo Civico.
Another of Piero’s great masterpieces, the Resurrection of Christ, probably painted just before his journey to Rome in 1458, is housed in the Palazzo Comunale. The contemporary writer Aldous Huxley called it “the most beautiful painting in the world.”
Only a fragment of his fresco decoration of the church of Sant’Agostino survives, depicting a bust of San Giuliano.
The house of Piero is located in Sansepolcro’s centro storico. The artist went blind in his final years and died in Sansepolcro on October 12, 1492.
Museo Civico
Tourist information office
AREZZO
Toscana, 40km, 55 mins
The Bacci Chapel within the Basilica of San Francesco houses Piero’s impressive fresco cycle of the Legend of the True Cross, painted between 1452 and 1466. Check the website of the Basilica of San Francesco for entry times and prices.
In the Cathedral of Arezzo, at the bottom of the left aisle, is the fresco depicting the Magdalene, one of Piero’a most beautiful paintings.
It is worth looking out for the Crucifix by the 13th-century Florentine artist Cimabue.
Basilica of san francesco
basilica TICKET OFFICE
Cathedral of San Donato (DUOMO)
Centro Accoglienza Turistica
Piazza Duomo 1, Arezzo 52100
+39 0575 23991
Monterchi
Toscana, 48km, 1hr 5 mins
madonna del parte MUSEUM
PERUGIA
UMBRIA, 52km, 1hr 5 mins
The regional capital of Umbria, Perugia is a walled city with a pristine medieval centre (centro storico), historic buildings, cobbled alleys and picturesque piazzas.
National art gallery of Perugia
TOURIST INFORMATION OFFICE
Corso Pietro Vannucci 19, 06121 Perugia
+39 0775 721009
Urbino
Le Marche, 127km, 2hrs 5 mins
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National Art Gallery of Marche
Tourist information office
RIMINI
EMILIA-ROMAGNA, 160km, 2hrs 45 mins
During the reign of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Rimini became one of Italy’s most vibrant centres of learning and the arts.
The Tempio Malatestiano (now called the Basilica Cattedrale), designed by the architect Leon Battista Alberti, is decorated with Piero’s fresco of Sigismondo Pandolfo praying in front of Saint Sigismund, painted in 1451.
Also dating from Piero’s brief period in Rimini is the portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta which is today displayed in the Louvre.
The Museo della Città also houses Giovanni Bellini’s Pietà and works by Agostino di Duccio, Ghirlandaio and Guercino.
Tempio Malatestiano
Tourist information office
Firenze
Toscana, 126km, 1hr 45 mins
