AREZZO, ei-ret'sts (ancient Lat. At-re/turn). An episcopal city of Italy, the capital of the pro vince of Arezzo, Tuscany (Map: Italy. F 4). It is beautifully situated on the slope of a hill, 54 miles southeast of Florence and 6 miles from the confluence of the Chiana and the Arno. It has broad streets, impressive buildings, a famous academy of science, a museum and picture gal lery, a library, many convents, and excellent mineral springs. Externally, the cathedral, which was begun in the Thirteenth Century, is un attractive; but the proportions of the interior are pleasing and the decorations are elaborate and by master hands of several centuries. The church of San Francisco contains sonic fine Fifteenth Century frescoes. The Pieve, begun in the Eleventh Century on the site of a heathen temple, also contains art treasures. Arezzo was one of the twelve richest and most populous cities in ancient Etruria, and ex celled in pottery and in copper work. In the
Social IVar. Sulla sacked it. banished its citizens, and replaced them with his own followers. It was also sacked by the Goths under Totila and restored under Justinian. During the con test of the Guelphs and Ghibellines in a later age, it became subject to Florence, being defeated in the battle of C'ampaldino, in which Dante took part. Among celebrated men born here were Miecenits, the famous patron of letters in the time of the Emperor Augustus; Petrarch: Pietro Arkin(); Guido Aretino, inventor of the gamut; Leonardo Aretino, the historian; Cesalpino, the botanist; Redi, the physician: Pope Julius II.; the notorious Marshal d'Anere; and Vasari, author of Lives of the Painters. The principal manufactures are cloth, silk fabrics, and leather. The country is unusually fertile, and produces grain, wine, oil and fruit. Population, in 1881. 39,000; in 1901 (commune), 44,316.