Pieve of Santa Maria

   This is one of the largest and most attractive Romanesque “Pievi” in Tuscany and certainly the emblem of Medieval times in Arezzo. It was first built in the XIIth century, probably on the site of a Roman temple dedicated to the god Mercury, but was then enlarged and completed in the following two centuries.  The  facade is quite original, three orders of 'loggie' one on the top of the other with a different number of columns in each one. In 1330 the mighty bell-tower was erected to create a kind of link  with God in heaven. It is commonly called 'the Bell-tower of the Hundred Holes' for the many windows in it.

   There is a legend in town about the choice of the place where to build this church: on 7^th August 301 Donato, the bishop of the time, was publicly beheaded on the top of the hill (where you can now find the Cathedral) as his intense work of evangelization had come in conflict with the totalitarianism of the state. It is said that his head started to roll down the hill and stopped exactly where now the Pieve is. Donato was then made patron saint of the city. This legend would so explain why St. Donato's relics are kept here.