The former House of Vasari (Casa del Vasari) is located on Via XX Settembre in Arezzo, near Piazza San Domenico. Today it houses the Museo di Casa Giorgio Vasari, dedicated to the artist himself. Much of the house was decorated with frescoes by the artist and writer himself.
Casa del Vasari Arezzo
Address, opening times and admission
The address of the Casa del Vasari is Via XX Settembre, 55 – 52100 Arezzo (tel. +39 0575409040). Bus: LFCS2. Opening hours: 09.00 to 19.00. Sundays and holidays: 09.00 to 13.00. Closed Tuesdays. Entrance fee: 4 Euro (discount: 2 Euro). A combi-ticket for the Basilica di San Francesco and the frescoes by Piero della Francesca, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale Gaio Cilnio Mecenate, the Anfiteatro Romano and the Museo di Casa Vasari costs 12 Euro (with discount 7 Euro).
History
The house known as “House of Vasari” is not where Giorgio Vasari was born. He bought it in 1540 and restored and embellished it until it was finished in 1548.
The various rooms of the house are named after the works of art that are located there. These were created by Vasari himself and by his students.
In the Sala di Apollo e delle Muse there is a fresco depicting Vasari’s wife.
Other rooms are called the “Room of Fame and the Arts” (Sala della fama e delle arti) and the “Room of the Open Fire” (Sala del Camino), where he painted himself, but with shoulders turned toward the viewer.
The building was enlarged in the 19th century.
After having been used as a private residence for a long time, it is now the seat of the Museo di Casa Giorgio Vasari and the Vasari Archives. Signed letters from Cosimo I, Pius V and even Michelangelo, a.o., are kept here.
The Casa del Vasari has two floors and there is also a small garden.
Around the 1950s, a number of paintings by Vasari himself, his pupils and other Tuscan painters from the Mannerist school were added to the collection.
Vasari
Giorgio Vasari is most famous as a writer. In his Vite (“Lives”) he describes the biographies of the most famous architects, painters and sculptors up to the 16th century. He himself was also an impressive painter and architect.
Highlights Casa del Vasari
The Sala del Camino was decorated by Vasari himself with the fresco “Expulsion of Envy and Happiness by Virtues” (1548).
In a side room of the Camera della Fama, a wooden model of the Loggia del Vasari can be seen.
In this room, the ceiling was painted by Vasari with a fresco on the theme of “Fame”. The lunettes are painted with a self-portrait of the artist himself, plus portraits of artist friends.