ARETI'NO, SPINELLO, an early Italian painter of great genius, was b. at Arezzo in 1316, or, according to others, in 1328. He studied under Jacopo del Casentino ; but before he had attained his majority, he had surpassed his master in the vigor and liveliness both of his conceptions and coloring. His reputation attained its full bloom after he went to Florence, where he painted in fresco, in the chapel of St. Maria Maggiore, several incidents in the life of the Virgin and of St. Antonio Abate. The monastery of San Miniato, near Florence, contains to the present day a few of his frescos. He also adorned the monasteries of San Bernardo at Arezzo and Monte Oliveto near Florence. Vasari thought that the finest works of A. were those which lie executed for the Campo Santo at Pisa, illustrating the life of San Ranieri. Of these, however, we have only prints, and cannot therefore judge satisfactorily. His principal works, still remaining, are those from the life of pope Alexander III. in the town-hall of Siena. He d. in 1403.
Throughout all Italy, A. was 5reatly admired for his invention, the grace and simplicity with which he arranged his figures, and the finish of his style. His Madonnas possessed a remarkable sweetness of expression; and his coloring was in most cases bold and beautiful. Vasari prefers him to Giotto.
AREZ20 (AnEnum), the chief city of the Italian province of A., is situated in a fertile valley near the confluence of the Chiana with the Arno, lat. 43° 27' n., long. 11° 52' e. It is 38 m. e.s.e. from Florence. A. is Perhaps the oldest town in Tuscany, and formed one of the 12 cities of the ancient Etruscans. It was devastated by Sylla during the- social war; and, like many other Italian cities, was sacked by the Goths when they burst into the peninsula. During the contest of the Guelphs and Ghibellines,
in a later age, it became subject to Florence, whose troops defeated those of A. at the battle of Camaldino, in which the poet Dante took part. Arezzo contained (1871) 11,154 inhabitants; but its extensive walls and numerous churches bear record of its more flourishing and more populous period. The Piazza Grande, the Hem, an old church founded on the site of a heathen temple, and the cathedral, which, like almost all the other churches, has an unfinished facade, are its principal public buildings. The cathedral has a splendid high altar in marble by Giovanni Pisano; and the several churches contain fine specimens of the old Tuscan school of painting. These ecclesias tical decorations are contrasted with the general aspect of the city, which has dark and dirty streets. Its industry is at present at a very low ebb, there being few or no manufactures, and its people are not generally favorites in Italy; but perhaps no city of its size ever produced a greater number of celebrated men, among whom may be mentioned—Maicenas, the famous patron of letters in the time of the emperor Augustus; Petrarch; Pietro Aretino; Guido de A., inventor of the gamut; Leonardo de A., the historian; Cesalpino, the botanist; Redi, the physician; pope Julius III.; the notorious marshal d'Ancre; and Vasari, author of Lives y' the Painters. Michael Angelo was also born in the vicinity of A. The province of A. contains 1276 sq.m., with a pop. of (1871) 234,645. The soil is fertile in corn, wine, and oil.