Central Tuscany: The Best of Cortona (Inside Tuscany: A Second Time Around)

2016 to 2017 Guide to the Best of Cortona

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 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.

Enjoy 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 Città (MAEC).
• 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 of Luca Signorelli, other Renaissance masters, 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 Niccolò with its back-to-back Signorelli paintings.
• Santuario di Santa Margherita. Venerate the incorrupt body of Santa Margherita at the top of the Cortona hill.

Bonus Materials

• 8 authentic recipes from my Italian family.
• descriptions of three restaurants
• a couple of hotel suggestions

Reader Comments about the Central Tuscany series:

”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 2016/2017 version reports changes in the sites described, adds additional information, and uses a new format with larger pictures.