Central Tuscany:
Best of Cortona
Revised and Expanded for 2018 / 2019
Cortona's Special Offerings
The latest guidebook on Cortona invites you to spend a couple of days in Cortona to view its excellent churches and museums and to experience the rhythm of daily life. Founded by Noah after the ark sailed up the Tiber — if you believe the legends — it sits high on a steep hill that overlooks much of Tuscany’s Valdichiana from Lake Trasimeno on the Umbrian border to the south to Civitella in the north.
You find information to:
- Learn about the art and sites of Cortona.
- Assess mobility accessibility.
- Use GPS for navigating.
- Cook from recipes from my Italian family.
- Decode religious art.
- Find places to eat and to stay.
Enjoy Cortona’s museums and landmarks:
- Sit on the steps of the Palazzo Comunale in the Piazza Repubblica and watch people. Someone you know is sure to walk by.
- Wander around Piazza Signorelli and Teatro Signorelli.
- Learn about the history of Cortona from the seventh century BC Etruscans to the ancient Romans to modern times at the Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca e della Città (MAEC), one of the finest in Tuscany.
- Visit an active Etruscan excavation at the Melone Sodo II site at the bottom of the Cortona hill.
- Examine the superb quality art at the Museo Diocesano, the best small museum in Tuscany with several paintings from Luca Signorelli and other Renaissance masters, and modern works of art.
Visit several interesting churches:
- Duomo della Santa Maria Assunta, the town’s cathedral next to the Museo Diocesano.
- Chiesa di San Domenico and its magnificent altarpiece.
- Chiesa di San Francesco with relics of St. Francis and the True Cross.
- Tiny Chiesa di San Niccolò with its back-to-back Signorelli paintings.
- Santuario di Santa Margherita. Venerate the incorrupt remains of Santa Margherita at the top of the Cortona hill.
- Visit the tiny Chiesa di San Cristoforo.
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Praise from Readers:
— Basic guide to a Tuscan City. I intend to take it with me when I go there. Very handy guide. —
— He takes you through lesser-known villages and churches in the same detail that the big commercial guides provide for the usual must-sees, so that you come to understand what a cultural wealth is to be found in even the most out-of-the-way places. —
Bonus information:
- Recipes from my Foiano based Italian family.
- Descriptions of restaurants.
- Two hotels.
- Information on how to decode religious art.