The Charm of Cortona

- January 12, 2016

Cantalena church 1274 rebuilt in 1426

The charm of Cortona is well known especially since the "Under the Tuscan Sun" movie was filmed here. We took a day trip out of Florence to visit Cortona and it was one of the least crowded towns we visited, possibly since it was a weekday in October. Cortona is a favorite of ours and worth visiting. The photo above is along the road driving up to the old town.

We took the train from Florence to the Cortona station and then a shuttle bus up to the old town (about 10 minutes). We spent most of the day in the town. This is just some of the scenery we passed along the way to the town...

The shuttle bus arrives at the Piazza Garabaldi where you may begin your walk around the pristine old town. This is a fun walk along the tiny streets lined with various shops and cafes. Its not a difficult walk to reach the main square (Repubblica).

Most of us are very familiar with the Piazza del Repubblica clocktower (above) as featured in the famous movie. The entire village represents a quintessential small etruscan town of Italy.

One of my favorites, the Santa Maria Nuova (1600) church. There are several interesting medieval churches in the area.

The views are very breathtaking from all around the hillside town.

The small streets or walkways are so fun to explore.

Love the little carrugios---little streets

This town is so clean you can probably eat off the streets!

See the unique shade made of wine corks?

There are some great shops in Cortona like this well known wine shop, Enoteca Molesini, in the Repubblica square.

The Cantalena Church located on the drive up to the old town.
You can see this view from the Garibaldi square.

Typical produce store..

We found the historic Ristorante La Loggetta overlooking the Palazzo della Repubblica...the couple above was having a delicious looking cheese fondue and we had fresh pastas and wine of course. You'll have great food and a view as you can see below.