Information AboutCortona |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT CORTONA | |
| hilltowns in italy | |
| hilltowns in tuscany | |
| cities and towns in tuscany | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
|
Cortona (pop. 22,046) is a small town in Tuscany , Italy . It is famous as the base for some scenes in Roberto Benigni 's film '' Life Is Beautiful '', in Italian ''La Vita è bella''. It is also famous as the setting for the 2004 film '' Under The Tuscan Sun '' whose author Frances Mayes maintains a home in Cortona. In 2003, a live concert by André Rieu and his "Johann Strauss Orchestra" in the Piazza Della Republica was filmed and later broadcast in the United States on the PBS television network. The Art Departement of the University Of Georgia maintains a study abroad program in Cortona as does the University Of Alberta . Cortona may be accessed by rail: the closest station is Camucia on the main Florence - Rome line, three kilometres away. Cortona was one of the 12 Etruscan cities, and it was also important during Roman times. Parts of the Etruscan city wall can still be seen today as the basis of the present wall. 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 in 1436. Cortona is beautifully set on a hill high above the Val Di Chiana plain. HISTORY Cortona has a rich and ancient history going back many millennia to when, after sailing from Asia Minor during the Hellenic Dark Ages sometime after 1200 BCE, a group of people known as the Etruscans established their civilization in Western Italy. Many towns were henceforth established, one of them being the city of Cortona, which the original inhabitants called ''Curtun'' in their Etruscan Language . TRIVIA
SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS |