Arezzo Day Trip from Florence with the Family
Arezzo gets far fewer tour coaches than Siena or San Gimignano, and that alone makes it worth choosing for a family day out. You can actually hear yourselves think as you walk the main streets, the children have room to move without being jostled, and every restaurant in the city is priced for locals rather than tourists. The 45-minute train from Florence Santa Maria Novella puts you there well before mid-morning.
Travelling There and Getting Up the Hill
The most convenient option is the train from Florence Santa Maria Novella. Depending on the service, the journey takes between 45 minutes and just over an hour. Regional trains typically cost around 9 euros per adult; faster intercity services run to 13 or 14 euros. Children aged 4 to 14 travel at half price on regional trains. Trains run frequently throughout the day, so there is no pressure to catch an early departure.
If you prefer to drive, the A1 motorway south reaches Arezzo in about an hour. Paid parking is available near the station and around Piazza Risorgimento at roughly 1.50 euros per hour. The station sits at the base of the town hill, and the historic centre is a 15-minute uphill walk or a short taxi ride away. Families with pushchairs or tired legs generally prefer the taxi for the ascent.
What to See with Children in the Old Town
Arezzo’s historic centre is compact and navigable. Most of the main sights cluster within a 15-minute walk of each other, along streets that mix flat stretches with moderate gradients. The terrain is manageable with a pushchair, though a couple of steeper sections may require folding it.
The Basilica of San Francesco houses Piero della Francesca’s Legend of the True Cross fresco cycle, painted in the 1450s and considered among the most important Renaissance paintings in Italy. A guided visit - available to book directly with the basilica - transforms this from a room of old paintings into a genuinely gripping story for children aged 8 and upwards. Entry is 8 euros for adults, 5 euros for children aged 11 to 17, and free for under-11s. Timed entry is required; book online a few days in advance during summer.
Giorgio Vasari’s former home, the Casa di Vasari, is free to enter and takes around 30 minutes. The ceilings and walls are covered in paintings Vasari designed for his own private use - a very different register from the grand decorative cycles he produced for the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Older children who have visited the Uffizi will enjoy seeing how a Renaissance painter chose to decorate his own rooms.
Several parts of Arezzo also featured in Roberto Benigni’s film Life is Beautiful, shot on location throughout the city. For older children and teenagers who have seen the film, walking through those streets has a particular resonance.
Piazza Grande and the Monthly Antique Fair
Piazza Grande is the architectural heart of Arezzo and one of the finest squares in the region. It slopes noticeably from one end to the other, and the buildings surrounding it - the Romanesque apse of the Pieve di Santa Maria, a Vasari-designed loggia, medieval towers, and Renaissance palaces - create a composition that has accumulated across many centuries without losing coherence. There is very little tourist infrastructure here. It functions as a real city square.
On the first weekend of every month (Saturday and Sunday), the Fiera Antiquaria takes over the piazza and the surrounding streets. Over 500 dealers bring furniture, jewellery, ceramics, prints, clocks, and every variety of object ranging from the genuinely antique to the cheerfully peculiar. Browsing is free and the scale of the fair is impressive. Children tend to find it fascinating - there is always something unexpected on the next table, and the atmosphere is entirely unlike a conventional museum.
Even without the market, the square rewards 30 minutes of doing nothing in particular. Sit at an outdoor table, order something cold, and let the city pass by.
Where to Eat in Arezzo
Arezzo’s food scene caters primarily to its own residents, which keeps prices honest and quality consistent. Pasta dishes from the Arezzo tradition include pappardelle with wild boar sauce and pasta with black truffle, both appearing on almost every menu.
Trattoria il Saraceno, a few steps from the Basilica of San Francesco, is a dependable choice for families. The atmosphere is calm and unhurried, the menu covers local specialities alongside simpler options that children eat willingly, and main courses land at 12 to 18 euros. The staff are used to families with young children.
Osteria Agania on Via Mazzini takes a similar approach in a slightly more informal setting. A full lunch for four - two courses, local wine for the adults, something soft for the children - costs around 45 to 55 euros.
For a quicker alternative, Corso Italia has several sandwich bars where a well-filled panino with local ingredients costs 4 to 6 euros. This is the practical choice when children run out of patience for a sit-down meal.
Fitting the Day Together
Arriving in Arezzo at around 9:30 gives you the whole morning before the lunch crowd. Start at the Basilica of San Francesco while you are fresh, then walk through the town to Piazza Grande. If you are visiting on a market weekend, allow extra time there. Lunch somewhere near the piazza, then a gentle afternoon at the Casa di Vasari or simply walking the quieter streets around the old market. Trains back to Florence run throughout the afternoon.
Arezzo is also the birthplace of the poet Petrarch and the architect Vasari, and these connections give the city a depth that rewards a second visit if you are staying in Florence for a week or more. The first visit sets the stage; the second lets you go further.
Staying at Charlotte at Via Guido Monaco 19 - five minutes’ walk from Santa Maria Novella station - means catching the morning train to Arezzo requires no planning at all.
