Discover Alberoro

Alberoro can be explored through several distinct themes: the Sagra del Cocomero, the Arezzo–Civitella cycling route, and evidence of its architectural and artistic history. If you are looking for a hotel, the reason for your trip can help you choose a focus: a festival date, a cycling tour, or your interest in architecture and art.

Sagra del Cocomero in July

The Sagra del Cocomero has been held every year in the second half of July in the hamlet of Alberoro since 1994. If you would like to combine your trip with the festival, check the date for the specific year and plan around this seasonal window. Watermelon is considered one of the area’s most prized crops. The festival also features dishes from the local culinary tradition. In this way, the Sagra brings a celebrated agricultural product together with regional cuisine.

Cycling route and historic paths

The 32-kilometre Arezzo–Civitella cycling route follows minor roads through Alberoro. Its first half runs along the historic Sentiero della Valdichiana, once used to maintain the Canale Maestro della Chiana, connecting Arezzo with Chiusi, and now considered a nature trail suitable for everyone. It is important to distinguish between the overall route and the historic path: 32 kilometres is the length of the cycling route; the Sentiero makes up its first half.

The agricultural landscape around Alberoro includes fruit and vegetable crops, olive groves and vineyards, which the cycling route passes through. A different view of the area can be found on stage 8 of the Sentiero della Bonifica from Frassineto to Civitella: from this stage, Alberoro’s houses can be seen in the distance. This distinction is useful when choosing a route: the Arezzo–Civitella cycling route passes through Alberoro, while stage 8 offers a distant view of its houses.

Architectural and artistic history

The Casa di terra di Alberoro adds a tangible example of architectural history to the route themes. A 2021 account described it as an intact 19th-century earthen house. It has stone foundations and 60-centimetre-thick walls made of earth, gravel and sand from the Rio di Alberoro. Its 43 square metres contain two rooms—a kitchen and a bedroom—with a traditional Tuscan tiled roof above. Two aspects can be distinguished when considering its architecture: the interior and floor area on the one hand, and the foundations, wall thickness and material origins on the other.

The fresco “Madonna col Gesù Bambino” is in the parish church of San Marco in Alberoro. It was probably painted by an artist from Arezzo in the late 15th century; the frame was painted later than the fresco itself. The attribution to a late-15th-century artist from Arezzo is probable; the frame was painted after the fresco. In comparison with the Casa di terra, the focus is therefore not on building materials and floor plan, but on attribution and the sequence of creation.

For an overview of the wider trip: Monte San Savino.