We have already mentioned Arezzo`s Etruscan-Roman origins in the previous chapter of this tourist guide. But the town that clings to the slope of the hill of San Donato played an important role in the national panorama at the time of the free medieval communes.

Governed by the ghibelline families of the Guidi, Ubertini and Tarlati, the town conquered territories and gained importance since the early 11th century.

Right in this period began the works for the construction of the Romanesque church of Santa Maria (12th century) and the Gothic cathedral of San Donato (13th century), which stand among the palaces and the "tower houses" in the upper part of Arezzo - which still today maintains its medieval charm. New city walls were built, encompassing an area of about 51 hectares. At that time Arezzo boasted also a "studium", that is, one of the first European medieval universities, where medicine, art, humanities and law were taught.

But living in a region and in a country in which guelfs were increasingly gaining power was difficult, and Arezzo had to confront with Siena and Florence. After the debacle in the battle of Campaldino (11th June 1289), Arezzo villas, territories, monuments and inhabitants definitively passed under the domination of Florence(although in the course of the centuries there were several uprisings).

Among the palaces and the apartments in Arezzo, the statues of Ferdinand I Medici (situated in front of the Duomo) and of Ferdinand III of Lorraine (at Piaggia di Murello) are reminiscences of Florence domination over Arezzo.