Cortona, Italy

Time to travel back in time to the time when we were traveling: Day 13 of the Big Trip. Dana and I have left Sydney and been to Cape Tribulation, the Great Barrier Reef and Palm Cove, all in Queensland, Australia, before popping by Singapore on the way to Rome. A short train ride took us north from Rome to the Cortona/Terontola train stop. One more stop on the train would have brought us to Cortona/Camucia, where Dana's mother was waiting for us. Ah well, Susette and Marvin got to see a bit more of the Tuscan countryside following the train tracks to us. Thankfully they had the good sense to drive on the road, and not the tracks themselves.

We stayed with much of Dana's family, soon to be my family too, in a villa on the hill on which Cortona stands. There will be more on the villa later, but here's a bit about our experience in the city of Cortona...

We drove up to the old city for dinner one night. La Bucaccia was an excellent choice. I'm not sure what an old, authentic Tuscan restaurant should be like, but this certainly seemed to set the standard for all the supposedly authentic Tuscan restaurants I visit in the future. The owner, Romano, took great care of us and served us his recommendations. This is handy when you can't read the menu. His daughter, Francesca, served the wine. The food was excellent, as was the entire experience.

Dana and I went back up later in the week to see some of the sites. Since it's built on a hill, like many Tuscan cities, you can be sure you'll get a good workout. We started at the town center - Piazza della Repubblica. The city seemed to be nearing completion of some revitalization construction... digging up the roads and putting in the proper cobblestones. I'm sure they were authentic medieval cobblestones. The streets of Cortona are very narrow and extremely steep, and I constantly found myself daydreaming about how much fun it would be to have a bowling ball... or even a slinky.


We started off with a visit to the Museum of the Etruscan Academy to study the ancient artifacts there and learn about the history of the city. The Etruscans brought Greek traditions and styles to Italy, which had a profound impact on the Roman Empire. The city saw building and revitalizations during the Etruscan, Roman and Medieval times. This is most evident in the Medici Fortress, at the highest point of the city. The museum displays archaeological findings as well as information about important historical sites just outside Cortona. When we arrived we were notified that the museum was still under construction... we spent hours there and can't imagine what else they could add.

With the swallows ceaselessly circling overhead, we hiked up the city, stopping by nearly every church and corner shrine. I struggled to get some decent photos of the inside of the churches... it can be a challenge using only natural light. The best views were from the Medici Fortress, from which we could look down on the city and see as far as Lake Trasimeno. The Fort was built on preexisting foundations in 1556, by Cosmo Kramer. His name might have actually been Cosimo I.

After all the uphill walking it was a treat to go downhill... even if it was 3 kilometers back to the house.

All photos from Cortona here.