Anghiari: Museums, Walls and Craftsmanship

Anghiari offers several ways to explore culture and history: museums, fortifications, an official walking tour, textile craftsmanship and the surrounding landscape each offer a different perspective. If you are looking for a hotel in Anghiari, these themes can help shape your travel plans.

Museums and Collections

The Museo Statale di Palazzo Taglieschi comprises around 20 rooms across four levels. The museum tour ends in a glass-enclosed loggia with an elevated view of the village of Anghiari. Its extensive collection includes household and agricultural objects associated with the local folk traditions. The museum thus focuses on everyday objects and local traditions.

The Museo della Battaglia e di Anghiari displays prehistoric tools and local archaeological finds from the Etruscan, Roman and early medieval periods. The collection also includes weapons dating from the 16th century to the end of the 19th century. This allows you to distinguish early archaeological evidence from a weapons collection whose period begins considerably later.

The Museo della Misericordia is housed in the old Badia, the former abbey church of San Bartolomeo Apostolo. It was the historic seat of the brotherhood from 1817. Here, the building’s present-day use as a museum meets its former institutional role.

Walls, Routes and Architectural History

A bastion marks the eastern side of Anghiari’s walls; Filippo Spina Vicario completed it in 1571. The semicircular tower was built in 1463 during the expansion of the church of Sant’Agostino and can now be reached by a staircase. These two structures point to different dates in the history of the town’s fortifications: the tower is associated with the church’s expansion, while the bastion was completed in the 16th century.

The Antica Via di Ronda was a historic route north of Anghiari’s walls and now passes through the former 16th-century monastery of Sant’Agostino. The official tour of the sites of the battle offers a different perspective: it starts in the historic centre and can be done on foot or by bicycle. The Via di Ronda focuses on the historic route and former monastery, while the tour leads to the battle sites.

Craftsmanship and Landscape

The Busatti workshop is located in Anghiari, in the cellars of Palazzo Morgolanti. Traditional shuttle looms are still used there. The workshop produces a wide selection of particularly high-quality fabrics in wool, hemp, linen and cotton. It complements the history of the museums and buildings with a tangible aspect of local production: the continued use of traditional looms and a wide range of materials.

The Golena del Tevere comprises different habitats, including riverside vegetation and valuable wetlands. These wetlands formed in disused gravel pits in the floodplain. Both the riverside areas and wetlands shaped by the site’s former gravel extraction are therefore characteristic of the area.

Religious tradition is also part of Anghiari’s story: the founding of the Convento e Chiesa della Croce di Anghiari is associated with the figure of Saint Francis.

Discover more destinations: Pratantico, San Giovanni Valdarno, Loro Ciuffenna, Bucine, Penna, Santa Firmina, Pieve al Toppo, Subbiano.

For the broader travel overview: Arezzo.