Cortona Travel Guide

Fans of the film Under the Tuscan Sun will find Cortona instantly recognizable. Large parts of that great movie – based on a book by Frances Mayes – were shot in the majestic landscape surrounding the town. Locals joke that rooms with a view are the rule rather than the exception in this spectacularly situated hilltop town. Below you is the Val di Chiana, a broad green valley that stretches south from Arezzo into the province of Siena, punctuated by gently rolling hills, orchards, and olive groves. Little wonder, then, that the great artist Fra’ Angelico lived and worked in Cortona in the 14th century. In contrast, fellow artists Luca Signorelli and Pietro da Cortona were born within its walls.

Cortona’s history is long and complicated. It was initially known as Curtun, a settlement belonging to the neighboring Umbria region. However, as the Etruscans rose to power in central Italy, a decision was made to join the Etruscan League in the 7th century BC. At the height of their power, the Etruscans were a mighty civilization, the Godfathers of Tuscany’s wine industry. Of course, with power and influence came rivalry and jealousy; neighboring Rome set its sights on conquering the Etruscan territory, and war soon broke out. In 265 BC, Etruria fell to Rome – Cortona eventually became a Roman colony under the name Corito. Yet, its citizens continued to resist Roman rule fiercely. They conspired against Rome with the Carthaginian ruler Hannibal during the Punic Wars. It was not until 88 BC that the constant civil disobedience was curtailed when Rome granted autonomy to the province of Tuscia.

However, Cortona’s prosperity was not to last. During The Gothic War between the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Emperor Justinian I and the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy (535-554), Cortona was sacked and destroyed. Little is known about the settlement after this period. In essence, the Roman Empire was overrun by tribes from northern Europe in the 5th century AD, allowing the Lombards to assume control of Tuscany for over two centuries. However, in 773, the emperor Charlemagne conquered much of Western and Central Europe, including Tuscany, Emilia, Venice, and Corsica. After that, civil wars raged across Tuscany for many centuries between rival houses vying for power.

By the 13th century, Tuscans wanted to change. Farmers and merchants needed peaceful piazzas to conduct their business, and the populace at large began to entertain hopes of living past 40. Sadly, it was not to come. Tuscans had to endure a hellish succession of famine, economic collapse, plague, war, and tyranny throughout the 14th century. Approximately two-thirds of the population was lost in cities across Tuscany in the bubonic plague outbreak of 1348, which ravaged the region for decades.

Yet out of the ashes rose the Renaissance, a time of great art and great tyrants. The balance of power in Tuscany became a casualty of the plague in the 14th century; political control was left to those who survived. Powerful families assumed control of city councils – everyone, including Cortona, had to take sides. The two leading contenders were the Rome-backed Guelphs and imperial Ghilbellines, loyalists of the Holy Roman Empire. Cortona became a Ghibellinian city-state with its currency, ruled by the Ranieri-Casali family between 1325 to 1408.

However, in 1409, the Ladislaus dynasty conquered Cortona, selling the town to the Medicis in 1411. The Medici family patronaged and supported the Renaissance artists more than any other Tuscan family in history. Cosimo the Elder (1389-1464) managed to finagle a rare 25-year stretch of relative peace for Florence. His successor, Lorenzo de’ Medici, was a legendary supporter of the arts and humanities, providing crucial early recognition and support for Leonardo di Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, and Michelangelo, among others.

The Medici dynasty ruled Tuscany until the 18th century – Maria Theresa of Austria installed her husband Francis as the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1737. Her legacy in Italy was considerable as the mother of 16 children – including Marie Antoinette – Theresa kept local potentates in check. She pushed through reforms that banned witch-burning and torture while simultaneously establishing mandatory education and allowing Italian peasants to keep a modest share of their crops. Meanwhile, Cortona came under the authority of the House of Lorraine.

Sadly, in 1796, Italy was besieged by rival factions desperately attempting to seize control, including Napoleon, the Habsburgs, and their Russian allies. Much of the priceless cultural patrimony was divided up as the spoils of war. Napoleon Bonaparte took over swaths of Tuscany in 1779, yet he could not maintain his iron grip, finally losing the region to Grand Duke Ferdinando III in 1814.

Nevertheless, for the rest of the 19th century was no walk in the park for many Tuscans. During 1848 and 1849, a revolution broke out, and a radical government was temporarily installed in France. Nervous that the Austrians would invade, conservative Florentine leaders invited the Habsburg king Leopold II to return as archduke of Tuscany. However, rural unrest mixed with brutal repression galvanized nationalist sentiments in the region, culminating in creating an inaugural united nation-state. In 1871, Rome was proclaimed the capital of a newly unified Italy.

The 20th century saw Italy enter two world wars: mass strikes, social uprisings, and sweeping reforms in working and living conditions. In 1921, Mussolini formed the Fascist Party, with many Tuscans supporting his endeavors. The 1924 elections were ‘overseen’ by Fascist paramilitary groups, and the Fascists, unsurprisingly, won a parliamentary majority. In 1940, the Fascist Italian Empire joined Germany in declaring war on Great Britain and France. Yet Italy surrendered in 1943, although Mussolini refused to capitulate, and the fighting continued.

Nevertheless, the Italian Resistance joined the Allies against Mussolini, and the Nazis were eventually driven out of Tuscany, doing much damage as they left. When civil warfare ended in 1945, a temporary coalition government was formed. In a referendum in 1946, people voted overwhelmingly to make Italy a republic. Subsequently, the 1970s saw much social change: divorce and abortion became legal, and legalization was passed, allowing women to keep their names after marriage.

Today, Cortona is a town where the architecture soars, as do the souls of many of its visitors. Effectively, it is a giant, open-air museum celebrating the best of the Tuscan landscape, culture, and gastronomy. Cortona is a feast for the senses and an essential stop on every Tuscan itinerary.