Exclusive Tuscany
Est. MMXXV

TuscanySub-region

Cortona, Tuscany.

The Etruscan hill town on Tuscany's eastern edge, looking across the Valdichiana toward Umbria and Lake Trasimeno — steep stone lanes, Renaissance churches and olive terraces below the walls.

1 villa in the collection

Villas in Cortona

The whole collection

On Cortona

Cortona,
from Smaranda.

Cortona is the Etruscan city on the hill at Tuscany's eastern edge, looking across the Val di Chiana to Lake Trasimeno and Umbria beyond. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in Italy, and its museum, the MAEC, holds the proof: the Tabula Cortonensis, a bronze tablet carrying one of the longest Etruscan inscriptions ever found. A film made the town globally famous in 2003; the town, to its credit, went back to being itself, and the visitors who come now find a working hill town with an unusually good kitchen.

The eating is the Val di Chiana's doing: this is chianina country, the white cattle behind the bistecca alla fiorentina, and the trattorie here serve it closer to the source than anywhere else in Tuscany. From our Val d'Orcia estates Cortona is about fifty minutes, the natural far-eastern day of a week, often paired with Montepulciano on the road home.

Fra Angelico, Santa Margherita and the Climb

The Museo Diocesano keeps a Fra Angelico Annunciation that would be mobbed in Florence and is usually contemplated here in near silence. Above the town, the basilica of Santa Margherita holds Cortona's own thirteenth-century saint, and the steep walk up past the Via Crucis buys the whole Val di Chiana at your feet, with Trasimeno silver in the distance. Come in the cool of the morning, as the locals do; Cortona's streets are vertical and unapologetic about it.

When to come

May, June, September and October. Cortona's height keeps summer evenings pleasant even when the Chiana floor bakes; February belongs to the town itself around Santa Margherita's feast.

Towns worth knowing

Cortona
The MAEC, the Fra Angelico, the passeggiata on Via Nazionale, the only flat street in town.
Lucignano
One of Italy's most perfect ring-towns, its streets drawn in concentric ellipses.
Castiglion Fiorentino
The quieter Cortona: towers, loggia views, no coach parking.
Monte San Savino
Ceramics town of the Chiana; Sansovino's birthplace.

Best for

  • Couples anchored to one hilltop town
  • Etruscan history and quiet museums
  • Serious eating in chianina country
  • Pairing Tuscany with Umbria and Trasimeno

Practicalities

Park at the Santo Spirito or Parterre lots and walk in; the streets are not for cars. The Camucia-Cortona station below town is on the Florence-Rome line, one of the few hill towns the train serves usefully.

Frequently asked

Is Cortona worth visiting beyond Under the Tuscan Sun?
Yes, and mostly for things that predate the film by centuries: the Etruscan collection at the MAEC, the Fra Angelico Annunciation, and the food culture of the Val di Chiana. The town recovered its working character years ago.
How far is Cortona from our villas?
About fifty minutes from the Castiglion del Bosco estate and the Val d'Orcia houses, which makes it the natural eastern day trip of the week, usually paired with Montepulciano on the return.

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