The first cathedral of San Donato was built on proximity of Arezzo, Colle del Pionta, where San Donato martyr was buried and revered, beheaded in 363. In 1203, Pope Innocent III ordered to transfer the Cathedral within the walls of the city on the site where it is today.
The construction of the Cathedral of Arezzo today took place from 1278, has undergone several phases, which were completed only in 1511. The façade was built between 1901 and 1914, replacing the previous unfinished one, dating from the fifteenth century.