Cortona is a small but amazing tuscan city, situated on a commanding hill and overlooking Lake Trasimeno.
Cortona, by contrast, seduces with its views, its galleries, and its quiet medieval streets. Originally an Umbrian city, it was conquered and enlarged by the Etruscans, who called it Curtun. Parts of the Etruscan city wall can still be seen today as the basis of the present wall. The main street, via Nazionale, is the only street in the town with no gradient, and is still usually referred to by locals by its older name of Ruga Piana.
The town’s chief artistic treasures are two panels by Fra Angelico in the Diocesan Museum, an Annunciation and a Madonna and Child with Saints. A third surviving work by the same artist is the fresco above the entrance to the church of San Domenico, likewise painted during his stay at Cortona.
Photo Credits: Alice Comunelli
