By a careful control of reaction temperature, treatment of aryl benzyl ethers with tBuLi selectively leads to -lithiation, generating stable organolithiums which can be directly trapped with a variety of selected electrophiles, before they can undergo the expected [1,2]-Wittig rearrangement. This rearrangement has been deeply studied, both experimental and computationally, with aryl -lithiated benzyl ethers bearing different substituents at the aryl ring. The obtained results support the competence of a concerted anionic intramolecular addition / elimination sequence and a radical dissociation / recombination sequence for explaining the tendency of migration for aryl groups. The more favored rearrangements are found for substrates with electron poor aryl groups that favor the anionic pathway.