Arezzo, work on Piero della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross completed.

The maintenance and conservation overhaul that affected the frescoes of the Legend of the True Cross by Piero della Francesca, a Renaissance masterpiece that adorns the Bacci Chapel of the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo, has been completed. As of March 28, the Chapel therefore returns to being open again in the usual manner. The intervention took place between late January and early March and involved not only the Legend of the True Cross, but also the painted Cross from the late 13th century and the Chapel’s stained-glass window.

An intervention and a project of the Regional Directorate of the Museums of Tuscany, which allowed more than 1,800 visitors to climb the scaffold to admire the work from a previously unseen perspective thanks to the All’altezza di Piero program, giving a “close-up” view of the paintings. The initiative, carried out together with the Arezzo Intour Foundation, which manages the museum services of Arezzo’s state museums, sold out and ignited a new and growing interest in Piero della Francesca’s masterpiece.

As the work of dismantling the scaffolding proceeds, approaching the reopening date for ordinary visits set for March 28, there is a palpable buzz in the air. Already more than 2,000 visitors have in fact booked online through the museiarezzo.it, museitoscana.cultura.gov.it websites and on the Ministry of Culture’s Italian Museums app, eager to immerse themselves in the art and history of the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo. The early reopening, on the occasion of the Easter holidays and spring bridges, will be further extended with an additional hour of visitation starting April 1. In addition, as usual, admission will be free on the first Sunday of the month, thanks to the initiative promoted by the Ministry of Culture.

The recent conservation maintenance work on the pictorial cycle of the Legend of the True Cross by Piero della Francesca was crucial to ensure the preservation of this extraordinary artistic heritage. Parallel to the restoration operation, in-depth diagnostic monitoring was conducted in order to identify any signs of degradation since the last assessment in 2016. The laboratory analysis, carried out by theOpificio delle Pietre Dure of Florence, confirmed the robustness of the pictorial surface, averting the presence of sulfation, a problem that in the past had threatened the integrity of the Pierfrancesque cycle.

In addition to the assessment of the pictorial surface, the conservative state of the Basilica’s architectural structures were examined and documented. Thanks to thermographic surveys carried out by the University of L’Aquila, possible problems, such as small detachments between the plasterwork, were identified and resolved, thus preserving the safety of the building as a whole. A key phase of the intervention was the delicate cleaning of the pictorial surface, with the removal of dust and patinas of whitening. This process, carried out with the utmost care, now allows visitors to admire this extraordinary work in its most authentic form.

of the Legend of the True Cross

Restoration of the Legend of the True

Restoration of the Legend of the True

of the Legend of the True Cross

Considerable attention and effort was devoted to the process of plaster consolidation, a key aspect of the complex conservation work. Through the use of special materials, introduced between the masonry layers, the restorers aimed to give optimal mechanical stability to the wall paintings. It was a source of particular satisfaction for the restorers to find that the areas of lifted color were extremely limited: for the few cases identified, nanostructured technologies were adopted for surface consolidation. The final phase of the operation included microstuccature of the recently identified lesions, in a small number, followed by the necessary pictorial reintegration to ensure a homogeneous and long-lasting result.

Similarly, the painted wooden Cross, dated to the late 13th century and probably attributable to a Umbrian master akin to the Master of St. Francis, benefited from targeted conservation interventions. These interventions included the delicate removal of dust deposits from the surfaces, the consolidation of the pictorial film and preparatory layers, as well as the integration of the gaps in the wooden support. At the same time, in-depth investigations and studies were conducted on the structure of the wooden artifact in order to assess its condition more accurately and carefully.

The stained glass window that illuminates Piero della Francesca’s frescoes, although of great historical and artistic value, was in a precarious state of preservation that required urgent restoration work. The latter involved restoring the stability of the glazed panels and recovering the colors and transparencies of the rollers. In order to carry out a complete and accurate restoration, it was necessary to dismantle the stained glass window, thus also allowing work to be done on the mounting system and the deteriorated leads, ensuring the optimal conservation and enjoyment of this precious architectural element.

Stefano Casciu, regional director of the Museums of Tuscany, says, “It is a great satisfaction to have completed on schedule and with optimal results the extraordinary conservative maintenance of the Bacci Chapel, with Piero della Francesca’s cycle and the splendid 13th-century painted Cross, fulfilling the obligations that the protection of such universal masterpieces imposes on the structures of the Ministry of Culture and specifically on us at the Regional Directorate of Museums of Tuscany. Having also been able to offer the close-up view from the site of the Legend of the True Cross to an important though necessarily limited number of visitors is a further source of pride, confirmed by the great success recorded directly by the public and also found in the media. I would like to thank all the technical staff of the Regional Directorate and the professionals in charge of the work, as well as the Arezzo Intour Foundation for the complex and successful organization of the special visits, which also intensely involved our supervisory staff and the technical officials responsible for the direction of the Basilica, the construction site and the various restoration and maintenance activities.”

Arezzo, work on Piero della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross completed.

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