Arezzo, or Aritim in Etruscan, constructed city walls for protection in the 4th century BCE.

When I want to amaze myself, I pause and reflect on the age of my small town. Arezzo was part of the Etruscan League, one of twelve important cities between 600 and 500 BC. The circular windows also known as “Oculus architecture” were used by the ancient Romans. Oculus, which means “eye” in Latin, is a circular opening in the center of a dome or a wall. The oculus window has been used in the Pantheon in Rome and the Duomo in Florence. It is also a common spectacle in France among several of their buildings.

After the 2020 pandemic the world was made aware of the “wine windows” because there was a plague that afflicted Tuscany in 1634. This is another fun rabbit hole to jump into.

My circular windows predate these wine windows. They aren’t very common, you have to make an effort to spot them, but once you start to notice them, you start to question how long the actual window has been there or if it was an active choice to install an oculus on the building. I am constantly hanging around outside this building below with several windows so that I can ask the people that reside there what the story behind the windows are.

I am grateful that these particular windows have prompted me to delve deeper into the layers of history. How fitting it is that the saying goes ‘the eyes are the windows to the soul’! These ancient circular windows truly offer a glimpse into the soul of our architectural past. Serving as the little eyes all over Arezzo, I can’t help but see it this way from here on out.