Arezzo Christmas City

What Arezzo Christmas City is

For seven weeks the old town of Arezzo turns into one of Italy’s biggest Christmas events. The heart is Piazza Grande, with the Tyrolean Village and the video mapping on the Town Hall; around it, the Medici Fortress with Santa’s House, the Prato park with the ice rink and the Forest of Emotions, the markets in the squares and the giant Moon over the Province’s garden. Everything is a few minutes’ walk apart. The 2026 edition, “The Christmas of the Arts”, is the eleventh.

How close we are to the Christmas City

ASC Hotel is 2 km from the old town, where the whole event takes place: you walk there and back, with no car and no restricted-traffic zone to worry about.

From ASC Hotel to	Distance	On foot	By bike	By car
Piazza Grande (Tyrolean Village, video mapping, Brick House)	2 km	15 min	8 min	6 min
Medici Fortress and the Prato (Santa’s House, ice rink, Forest of Emotions)	2.3 km	20 min	10 min	8 min
Piazza San Jacopo and Piazza Risorgimento (markets)	1.6 km	12 min	6 min	5 min
Arezzo railway station (shuttles and Christmas Bus)	1.5 km	18 min	7 min	5 min

The route is flat up to the city walls and well lit; if you prefer, a taxi from reception takes 6 minutes.

Why stay at ASC Hotel during the Christmas City

• Parking included, always available. On December weekends the city-centre car parks fill up by late morning and the old town is closed to traffic: here you leave the car on arrival and don’t touch it again until you leave.
• 15 minutes’ walk from Piazza Grande. Go and come back whenever you like, even late in the evening after the video mapping, with no shuttles and no traffic.
• EV charging point in the car park, available 24 hours: set off in the morning with a full battery.
• Large rooms, 45 to 50 m² on two levels: the Family Flat sleeps 5 with two rooms and a kitchen, the Quadruple Duplex sleeps 4. Room for pushchairs, gift bags and coats.
• In-house restaurant in the evening, Tuesday to Sunday (Sunday lunch too): on event weekends the restaurants in the centre are full; here your table is booked at reception.
• Buffet breakfast 7:30–10 with homemade cakes, optional with your rate.
• 24-hour reception and self check-in for arrivals after 8 pm, for example after a day at the markets.
• Quiet residential area: after the crowds of the centre you sleep in the greenery of the Cittadella dello Sport.
• Gym and, for the determined, running routes with GPX to work off the mulled wine and Tyrolean pork knuckle.
• A base for the rest of Tuscany: Cortona in 30 minutes, Florence in an hour, the Casentino with its nativity scenes and snowy forests in 40 minutes.
• Lowest rate on the official website and a direct WhatsApp line to reception for any question.

How to plan

The busiest days are the weekends from 29 November to 8 December and those just before Christmas. On those days the centre is closed to traffic and car parks run out by late morning: on peak weekends the city opens the Arezzo Fiere e Congressi area with a shuttle. If you come by train, the station is 10 minutes on foot from Piazza Grande.

Staying at ASC Hotel solves the car problem: parking is included and stays with you for the whole stay, an EV charging point is available, and the centre is a 15-minute walk along a flat route. In the evening you come back to your room without thinking about traffic; in the morning you set off calmly for Cortona, the Casentino or Florence, an hour away.

A local tip

The best time to see the lights is late afternoon on a weekday, when the video mapping is already on and the square is not yet full. For Santa’s House, buy the online ticket, which has a guaranteed time slot. And the Antiques Fair, on the first Sunday of the month, in December overlaps with the markets: it is the most beautiful and the busiest weekend of the year.

Past editions

2025 — Tenth edition, 15 November 2025 to 6 January 2026, with the Tyrolean Village in Piazza Grande, Santa's House in the Fortress and the first Brick House Art.