Cortona, a small town in the province of Arezzo, in the heart of the Val di Chiana is a lively and active center from a cultural, historical and artistic point of view. Great activities, events and hospitality make Cortona the so-called "Pearl of Tuscany".
Visiting the village and the historic center you can immerse yourself in the history of the city, between its Etruscan walls and its palaces.
Inside the historic center we find Republic Square, where the cardo and the decumanus crossed, at the intersection of which was the Forum, that is the main square. On the square there is the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo and the Palazzo Comunale, the first residence of Cardinal Passerini in the sixteenth century, the second dating back to the twelfth century.
Adjacent to Piazza della Repubblica, Piazza Signorelli, a pretty square on a slight slope (which among other things hosted the final event of this year's Cortona Mix Festival, with the "landlord", Lorenzo Jovanotti), overlooked by Palazzo Casali, considered the palace of Cultura, now home to the Museum of the Etruscan Academy and the City of Cortona (MAEC), dating back to the XNUMXth century.
Also in Piazza Signorelli, the Signorelli Theater, the city's theater for more than a hundred years.
Walking through the center and along via Casali, you “meet” the Duomo, that is Church of Santa Maria Assunta, and opposite the Diocesan Museum. Another of the streets of Cortona, to be precise via Iannelli, has the particularity of preserving some medieval houses just as they were.
All around Cortona is "embraced" by both the ancient Etruscan walls of the XNUMXth century BC. C., later consolidated by the Romans and restructured in medieval times.
Via Nazionale, called Rugapiana by the Cortonese because it is the only "flat" road in the city, leads us directly to the unmissable panorama that we find in front of Piazza Garibaldi, from which the view is lost between the greenery of the Val di Chiana and Lake Trasimeno can also be seen, a lake on the border between Tuscany and Umbria.
The last two tips for a perfect weekend in Cortona - of course in addition to the main tip which is to enter some tavern to eat well and drink well, but this will not be complicated - they are to take a leap to the majestic Fortress of Girifalco, built by the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I de 'Medici to defend himself and at the Eremo delle Celle. The latter, from the XNUMXth century, founded by San Francesco is a “mystical” place, made up of small houses of hermitages in the mountain inlets. It is really worth it.
