Celebrities from Arezzo

 Mecenate and the Roman poetess Sulpicia, Guido d’Arezzo and the music notation, the Medieval heroine Ippolita degli Azzi, the genius of Francesco Petrarca, Piero della Francesca, Giorgio Vasari and Michelangelo Buonarroti: in the land of Arezzo the story of great women and men of the past resounds until today. The traces, which are marked in these places and in time, shape and multiply the beauty still today.  A journey in the story of Arezzo intertwines with the story of all of us.

Gaio Cilnio Mecenate, one of the most important figures of  ancient times and of the cultural world, was born in Etruscan and Roman Arezzo. The birth of patronage and the art valorization and support in all its shapes was an idea of this great Etruscan and Aretinian man who lived during  imperial Rome. Arezzo dedicated  its  National Archeological Museum Gaio Cilnio Mecenate to this man.  If Arezzo is nowadays considered as the city of music we owe that to Guido Monaco, the inventor of the music notation and of the system that relies on the musical staff. Thanks to Guido Monaco the erudite music came out of the cathedrals and into the lives of all the people. Arezzo celebrates its Guido with Piazza Guido Monaco, which is the anteroom of the city centre, and with the International Polyphonic Contest where worldwide choirs perfome in the churces of the city.