Central Tuscany

2016 Guide to Cortona

The 2016 guidebook on Cortona invites you to spend a couple of days in Cortona to experience the rhythms 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 central Tuscany's Valdichiana from Lake Trasimeno in Umbria in the south to Civitella in the north.

This guidebook helps you to: learn about the art and sites of Cortona, get an idea of mobility accessibility, use GPS coordinates for navigating, decide if a site is something that interests you, and cook from my Tuscan family's recipes.

Visit some of the best sites in Cortona: Watch the people in the Piazza Repubblica. Wander around the Piazza Signorelli and Teatro Signorelli. Learn about the history of Cortona from the 7th century BC Etruscans to the ancient Romans to modern times at the Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca e della Citta (MAEC). Visit an active Etruscan excavation at the Melone Sodo II site at the bottom of the Cortona hill. Examine the high quality art at the Museo Diocesano, the best small museum in Tuscany with paintings of Luca Signorelli and other Renaissance and modern works of art.

Visit several interesting churches including: Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta next to the Museo Diocesano. Chiesa di San Domenico and its magnificent altarpiece. Chiesa di San Francesco with relics of St. Francis. Tiny Chiesa di San Niccolo and the back-to-back Signorelli paintings. Santuario di Santa Margherita. Venerate the incorrupt body of Santa Margherita near the top of the Cortona hill.

Bonus Materials authentic recipes from my Italian family. three restaurants a couple of hotel suggestions

Reader Comments

""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.""

NOTE: The 2016 version reports some minor changes in the sites described and uses a new format with larger pictures."