An
encounter with Cortona is an encounter with art, with
history and with spirituality. Getting to know this
timeless city is a real rediscovery of our past. Cortona
offers testimony to its history as well as an enchanting
view of the landscape enclosed by Lake Trasimeno and
the Appenines.
"Cortona
has a picturesque aspect, quite a bit longer than
wide, turned toward the midday sun. Her district is
fertile and is abundant with all that is necessary
to human life. It is Cortona marked by the Meridian-Antartic
star sign, feminine, in motion, pungent, earthy, frigid
and dry and under the noble reign of..."
After
nearly four hundred years that description is still
valid. Cortona has changed very little in its urban
make up, it remains there- framed in the center of
a triangle which has for its corners three of the
cities of Central Italy which are most rich in history
and art works, Arezzo, Siena and Perugia.
The
tombes discovered in the campaign below are numerous.
Anyway the most famous is the Tanella di Pitagora,
the Melone di Camucia and the Hard one. The reports
conserved in the museum of the Etruscan Academy in
palazzo Casali , between which the famous Etruscan
chandelier of the V century b.C.. On the top of the
hill the fortress dominates. Under it the reconstructed
Sanctuary of Margherita Saint, from which they degrade
the steep ways to the stones of the city degrades.
Of
great importance is the civil architecture with many
of the medioevali and renaissances palaces. The numerous
churches are splendid, from that Roman-gotic of S.
Agostino and S. Francesco, to the Renaissance jewels
of Santa Maria delle grazie( Calcinaio )and of Santa
Maria Nova, to the silent church of S. Niccolò.
Cortona was native land of the painters Luca Signorelli
and Pietro Berrettini, famous here like Pietro from
Cortona. Gino Severini was born in Cortona, too. Exceptional
is the pictorial patrimony of this city of art conserved
in the Diocesano museum between which stands the "Annunciazione
del Beato Angelico"
The
foundation of the city is lost in the fog of numerous
legends of which there are traces going back to the
classical era. These legends were elaborated upon
and notably took shape in the late part of the Renaissance
period under the rule of Cosimo the First (1537-1574).
Despite opposition, he set up a plan to achieve the
following goals:
- In regards to the Florentine ruling class: to enhance
the image of the Tuscan territory as ancient Etruria
not only for the antiquity of all its most famous
cities which dated back to roots of civilization immediately
following the Great Flood, but with the aim of obtaining
for the the territory and for the city the recognition
of a Grand Duchy and the title of Grand Duke for Cosimo.
This was granted by Pope Pius V in 1570-
- In regards to the Cortonese ruling class: to enhance
the image of the city by presenting it as the most
noble and ancient among the cities of Tuscany, which
had enjoyed an autonomous social structure from the
time of the Etruscan lucomonia until it was transformed
into the free Comune of Medieval times. Placed in
the context of that time, in which the relationship
with the "Signori" of Florence who had taken
over Cortona was bitter, this research into the myths
and legends particularly of those Etruscan gave an
opportunity to the ruling Cortonese to reclaim some
of the city's autonomy.
