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Cortona, Italy
is one of the most famous the Tuscan hill towns although it's important to realise
that Cortona is more of a Tuscany "hillside town" than
"hilltop town" and consequently has a great many steep streets
and lanes and only one horizontal one - by no means unique in this part
of Italy. Nevertheless, for anyone visiting central Italy, the sights of
Cortona are definitely worth a day at the very least, preferably two days. The
Cortona Museums house world-class art, ranging from Etruscan and
Egyptian in the
Cortona Etruscan Museum, through early
Renaissance in the
Cortona Diocesan Museum. Cortona is
well-endowed with a variety of Renaissance architecture even though the
prevalent character of the townscape is mediaeval. The main piazza of
Cortona, Italy,
Piazza della Repubblica, has a wonderful ambience and forms the focal centre of Cortona. The
highest point on the hill of Cortona is dominated by a huge Medicean
fort from which the visitor can admire not only the town but the entire
Val di Chiana.
Cortona has an active calendar of performing arts events, and hosts a
famous annual antiques exhibition, the
Cortonantiquaria,
as well as a monthly antiques and bric-a-brac market.
There is also a not-to-be-missed folkloric crossbow competition, the Giostra dell'Archidado
on the last last day of Cortona Mediaeval Week in late May or early June.
Cortona is easily accessed by rail from Rome and Florence but the nearest station is
Camucia-Cortona, three km away, requiring a bus or taxi ride to reach the centre of Cortona. Walking uphill to Cortona proper is for the fit only but one is rewarded by access to a number of
Etruscan tombs along the route.
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