Driving in Arezzo — The ZTL Above a Sloping Tuscan Piazza

Arezzo's historic centre has a Zona a Traffico Limitato restricting unauthorised cars, camera-enforced, with fines around EUR 83-160. Hotels inside can sometimes register your plate. For most visitors, parking lower down outside the zone and walking up is simplest — the centre climbs the hill to the cathedral, and it's compact and best explored on foot, including the sloping Piazza Grande.

Check emission zone requirements

Arezzo is renowned for Piero della Francesca's 'Legend of the True Cross', one of the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance, in the Basilica of San Francesco; the beautiful sloping Piazza Grande, ringed by medieval and Renaissance buildings and the loggia by Vasari (an Arezzo native); and its monthly antiques fair, one of Italy's largest. Parts of the film 'Life Is Beautiful' were shot here. The hilltop centre is walkable and atmospheric.

Use a car park lower down the hill, outside the ZTL — there are lots near the station and around the lower town, some with escalators or a short walk up — then explore the centre on foot. The historic core climbs the hill, so expect some uphill walking, but it's compact, and parking below and walking up avoids the camera-enforced zone.

Plan your trip costs including parking

Yes — it's well placed in eastern Tuscany, near the Casentino valley and forests, the Val di Chiana, Cortona, and within reach of the Piero della Francesca trail through Sansepolcro and Monterchi. A car is useful for these, parked below the ZTL when you're in the city. Arezzo is also on the main rail line between Florence and Rome.

Not for the city — park below and walk up the compact hilltop centre. A car helps for exploring eastern Tuscany — Cortona, the Casentino, the Val di Chiana, the Piero della Francesca trail — driven from a lower-town car park rather than into the ZTL-bound centre.