Cortona offers a wide variety of restaurants ranging from Local Tuscan Mamma Cooking to high cuisine and even a Michelin Star restaurant. The historic centre counts a proud number of ca. 30 restaurants. Also in the surrounding area there are many high quality restaurants and pizzerias. Don’t forget to accompany your dinner with a good wine, Cortona it is in central position near to the best Italian wine areas.

Here a list of all restaurants in the historic centre:
Il Cacciatore
Bottega Baracchi
Cortona Bistrot
BeerBone Tuscan Hamburger & Artisan Beer
Tonino
Il Tocco
Sartù
AD Braceria
La Locanda nel Loggiato
Il Gozzoviglio
Il Preludio
Birrificio Cortonese
Fufluns
La Grotta
Pozzo Antico
La Bucaccia
Il Tempero
Nessun Dorma
Pane e Vino
Osteria del Teatro
La Fett’Unta
La Croce del Travaglio
Trattoria Toscana
Trattoria Dardano
Ambrosia
Trattoria Etrusca
El Comanchero
Scara e Beo
Casa Reggiani

NIGHTLIFE
You can enjoy sipping a good glass of wine in one of the many enotecas, bars and caffès which also offer drinks, sitting on stone steps with the best ice cream you have ever tasted, letting your children run around in one of the squares or dancing in the piazza during one of the various evenings in which the piazza turns into your open-air disco.
ICE-CREAM:
Snoopy Ice Cream in Piazza Signorelli
Gelato Ti Amo in Via Benedetti
Dolce Vita in Via Nazionale
ENOTECA:
Enoteca Molesini in Piazza dell Repubblica
Enoteca Enotria in Via Nazionale
Enoteca Cacio Brillo in Piazza Signorelli
CAFFE’ & BARS:
Sottovoce in Piazza della Repubblica
Bottega Baracchi in Via Nazionale
Pasticceria Banchelli in Via Nazionale
Bar 500 in Via Nazionale
Tuscher in Via Nazionale
Caffè La Saletta in Via Nazionale
Caffè degli Artisti in Via Nazionale
Caffè Signorelli in Via Nazionale
Bar delle Mura in Via Guelfa
Bar La Dimora in Via Guelfa
Caffè Vittoria in Piazza Signorelli
Bar La Posta in Piazza Signorelli
Nessun Dorma in Piazza Signorelli
Bar Teatro Signorelli in Piazza Signorelli
Il Granaio in Piazza Signorelli – Cortona

Moving away from the historic centre of Cortona, you can find several places where to enjoy good aperitifs and drinks:
Cristallo Caffè
Bar Menchetti

Also the Lake Trasimeno Area offers a great variety of places for a night out in Umbria:
Bar and pub in Passignano sul Trasimento and Castiglione del Lago (along the coast of the lake)
Darsena
Ciao Ciao Ciao Disco Dancing
Sualzo Disco Beach
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In Cortona town center during the year you can also find a lot of street artists and enjoy with their sings performance.

Public Transport in this area is not very well distributed, so we always recommend coming by car or renting one. However major cities such as Florence or Rome can be visited by train or you can hire a private  driver. Contact us for a quotation for any itinerary: info@doitintuscany.net 

Have a look at the national railway website: http://www.trenitalia.it
If you buy a train ticket at the Tabacchi, train station or self-service machine at the stations, these tickets must be validated at the specific machines at the station prior to boarding a train. Failure to validate your ticket can result in a fine if a conductor checks your ticket on the train.

Taxi service is offered plenty in Cortona and there are several bus stops in Cortona,
but with not very regular timetable. Inform yourself at the various bus stops or enquire with us.
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WINTER from Piazza Garibaldi to Camucia train station from Monday to Saturday included every hour starting from 9 am to 7 pm

SUMMER from Piazza Garibaldi to Camucia train station from Monday to Saturday
included every hour starting from 9 am to 7 pm and from 7.7.-25.8. also from 8 pm to midnight, Saturdays included.

Even if Cortona is a small hill town, many are the attractions that visitors may want to visit. We offer escorted excursions as well as private guided tours with local historic guides for a deeper immersion in the culture of the place. Any of our tours is crafted in timings and itinerary upon your will and inclinations, to genuinely show you the best in town and surroundings.

Feel free to contact us for any matter at the address:info@doitintuscany.net 

DO NOT MISS 

1) MAEC MUSEUM 
Inside the Palazzo Casali is the Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca (MAEC), displaying items from Etruscan, Roman and Egyptian civilizations, as well as art and artifacts from the Medieval and Renaissance eras. The distinguished Etruscan Academy Museum had its foundation in 1727 with the collections and library of Onofrio Baldelli. Among its most famous ancient artifacts is the bronze lampadario or Etruscan hanging lamp, found at Fratta near Cortona in 1840 and then acquired by the Academy for the large sum of 1600 Florentine scudi. Its iconography includes (under the 16 burners) alternating figures of Silenus playing panpipes or double flutes, and of sirens or harpies. Within zones representing waves, dolphins and fiercer sea-creatures is a gorgon-like face with protruding tongue. Between each burner is a modeled horned head of Achelous. It is supposed that the lampadario derived from some important north Etruscan religious shrine of around the second half of the 4th century BC. A later (2nd century BC) inscription shows it was rededicated for votive purposes by the Musni family at that time.
The Museum contains several other important Etruscan bronzes.

2) ETRUSCAN TOMBS 
Etruscan chamber-tombs nearby include the Tanella di Pitagora (halfway up the hill from Camucia): the fine masonry of the tomb stands exposed, but was formerly covered by an earth mound. two at the foot of the hillside at Il Sodo, and a complex in Camucia itself. At Sodo, the ‘Grotta Sergardi‘ commonly known as ‘Il Melone‘, contains a passage, opening into parallel passages leading to square inner chambers, within a mound about 200 m (660 ft) in circumference. Although the chambers are paved with slabs of masonry the walls are constructed of pieces of rock roughly-formed into bricks. This tomb can be visited. Il Sodo II contained a large stone-stepped altar platform with carved sphinxes devouring warriors.

3) MUSEO DIOCESANO 
The town’s main artistic treasures are two panels by Fra Angelico in the Diocesan Museum, an Annunciation and a Madonna and Child with Saints. The Academy Museum includes the very well known painting Maternità of 1916 by the Cortonese artist Gino Severini. There are also examples of the works of Pietro da Cortona.

4) CHURCHES 
Cortona is a small hill town with many churches. The most important church in town center it is the Duomo, dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the heart of Cortona in a panoramic position. Not to miss the Church of San Francesco, the Church of San Filippo, the Church of San Domenico with a work of Luca Signorelli and the Church of San Marco with an exterior mosaic realized by Giorgio Severini. In the “poggio” (the poggio it is the name of the ancient part of Cortona) you can see the Church of San Niccolò and the small Church of San Cristoforo. The Basilica of Santa Margherita it is dedicate to the patron, Santa Margherita and it is in the higher part of the city. Just outside the city wall the Church of Santa Maria Nuova with is original design from Giorgio Vasari  and modified by Battista Cristoforo Fanelli.

5) EREMO LE CELLE 
Just outside Cortona the Eremo le Celle: don’t miss the opportunity to visit this place, a small hermitage erected at the beginning of 1200 and famous because hosted San Francesco D’Assisi. This is a place of the soul, the spirituality and the nature around you will be a moment to remember in your heart and in your mind.

​6) FORTEZZA DEL GIRIFALCO 
In the highest point of Cortona you will se the Fortezza del Girifalco, a fortress build in 1556 commissione d by Cosimo I de’ Medici, the Grand Duke of Toscana. The castle is on the top the ruins of similar fortresses from the Etruscan before, then Roman and medieval periods, and destroyed during the “plunder” of 1258. The castle was designed by Gabrio Serbelloni, the cousin of pope Pius IV and Francesco Laparelli (born in Cortona) . The building is shaped like a trapezoid, with four large bastions, and is an incredible example of 16th-century military architecture. Recently restored, the Fortezza del Girifalco now hosts temporary exhibitions and is open to visitors from all over the world. From the top of the tower, you can enjoy a breath-taking view of Cortona and the entire Valdichiana and see spectacular and unforgettable sunset.

But remember, all the Cortona town center it is an attraction: his alleys, his typical shops, his buildings full of history will be something incredible for your eyes and for your heart… we have only one suggestions for you: loose yourself in Cortona and enjoy all the beauty around you.

Cortona boasts of being founded by Dardano- son of Jupiter and Electra- who was later the founder of Troy. He was supposed to have been born in Cortona, according to what he writes Virgil (Aeneid, III, 167, VII, 209) and from there he would go to Asia. Following the legend a proverb says: Cortona, mother of Troy and grandmother of Rome. It is said that Dardano was fighting on a hill overlooking the Val di Chiana and was struck by a spear which struck off his helmet and not possible to find anymore. A fortune-teller said that Mother Earth had wrapped the helmet in her womb, because she wanted a turreted city to be erected where the helmet was lost, which would be as impenetrable and strong as Dardano’s helmet. So the hero built the walls of the new city, which had its center just where the helmet got lost. The city was named Corito, helmet, changing then to the name of Cortona.

Today, Tuscany is a major cultural center, with museums, galleries and churches full of great sculptures, paintings and frescoes and magnificent monuments built by the greatest masters of all time. Tuscany attracts millions of tourists each year. If you are interested in visiting Tuscany, we hope our guide will be useful in planning your visit and in learning more about Tuscany in general.
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Cortona is a town and Comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic center of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.
Originally an Umbrian city, it was conquered and enlarged by the Etruscans, who called it Curtun. During the 7th century BC, it joined the Etruscan League.
Cortona eventually became a Roman colony under the name Corito. The origin-legends and ancient names of Cortona are described by George Dennis. In the final stages of the Gothic War (535–554), Cortona was sacked and destroyed by a warrior named Michael Pasquale, whose mother was Macedonian royalty and father was an Italian fisherman.
Cortona became a Ghibelline city state in the 13th century, with its own currency. From 1325 to 1409, the Ranieri-Casali family successfully ruled the town. After being conquered by Ladislaus of Naples in 1409, Cortona was sold to the Medici in 1411. In 1737, the senior branch of the Medici line went extinct and Cortona came under the authority of the House of Lorraine. Following the Italian Wars of Independence, Tuscany—Cortona included—became part of the Kingdom of Italy.