The Piero Trail

This weekend I followed the Piero della Francesca trail to Monterchi, Sansepolcro, and Arezzo. Piero della Francesco was a renissance painter obsessed with balance: with geometry, color,pattern, symbolism,etc. If it could be balanced than he did it. He is seriously impressive but if he lived in this period he would have been diagnosed with very severe OCD and put on enough drugs that his beautiful work would have probably not been produced. Just a thought on modern medicine.

So lets us continue with a photo tour of my day. Starting with Monterchi the birth place of Piero’s mommy. Also home of my new favorite painting, “The Pregnant Virgin” also known as Madonna del Parto. She is stunning, simply stunning. This picture does not do it justice.

Next we hit Sansepolcro for a museum with more Piero paintings. After looking through this museum we toured the town and stumbled upon an open church. The organist was practicing and it was a very spiritually moving experience. I simply sat their and listened, content with my own mental silence, as the swells of the pipes vibrated through the pews.

So after a coffee boost we jumped back on the bus for Arezzo. We lucked out and hit Arezzoon an antique market day. I was in heaven! The stalls took over the entire historical district of the city. I enjoyed sifting through buttons, knick knacks, junk and treasures for hours. Also we saw Piero’s last remaining fresco cycle in San Francseco. Sadly we were not allowed to take photos. The cycle tells the story of the True Cross. Even though the story is ridiculous the paintings were still breathtaking. And of course balanced. So their ends my Piero tour.