Village guide Casentino, Arezzo, Italy
Talla
Where the notes got their names
A small comune up on the hillside away from the main road, quiet even by Casentino standards. Talla says that Guido of Arezzo, the monk who taught Europe how to write music down, was born here, and it keeps a small museum to make the point.
- Comune
- Talla
- Where
- Open in maps
What to see
- The Guido Monaco house museum Talla’s claim on the man who gave the world the musical stave and the names of the notes. Other towns dispute it. Talla is unbothered.
- The village Stone, steep, and almost entirely without noise.
- The Pieve di Santo Stefano a Faltona An old parish church in the frazione below, worth the small detour.
- The hills around Walking country that nobody else has found.
What to eat
Whatever is on that day. Places this size cook one thing well and do not print it.
When to come
Summer evenings, when the village puts tables in the street because there is nowhere else to put them.
Do, re, mi came out of a hymn to Saint John: Guido took the first syllable of each line and used it to name a note. The system stuck for a thousand years.