Behind the splendid thirteenth-century crucifix hanging above the high altar of the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo is one of the greatest art jewels not only of Arezzo but of the whole of Tuscany: the Bacci Chapel, decorated with frescoes by Piero della Francesca. In these paintings, painted between 1452 and 1466, the great Master from Biturgia illustrates the "Legend of the True Cross" as narrated in the 13th century by the Dominican friar Jacopo da Varagine in his Legenda Aurea.
The Bacci Chapel is located in the choir of the Church, the frescoes are on three levels on three walls of the chapel. The frescoes are divided into twelve panels representing the following scenes:
1) Exaltation of the Cross, The Return of the Cross to Jerusalem
2) Prophet Ezekiel
3) Prophet Jeremiah
4) Death of Adam, Adam dying and Seth meets the archangel Michael
5) Finding and verification of the True Cross
6) Supplication of the Jew, Judas tortured in the well
7) The transport of the Sacred Wood, Raising of the Wood
8) Adoration of the Sacred Wood and meeting of the Queen of Sheba with King Solomon
9) Battle of Heraclius and Cosroe, Defeat and beheading of Cosroe
10) Annunciation, the rays emanating from the Eternal Father illuminate the scene of the announcing angel who reveals himself to the Virgin
11) Constantine’s dream, the angel reveals himself to Constantine at night
12) Constantine’s Victory over Maxentius, Battle of Ponte Milvio
Piero della Francesca, whose baptismal name was Piero di Benedetto dei Franceschi, was born in Sansepolcro around 1415. In this same village in the Tiber Valley he died on October 12, 1492, the day of the discovery of America, after spending his last years in blindness.
