The church of San Benedetto, is one of the most peculiar and not well known churches in Cortona. It is a “hidden jewel” of Cortona, so you can’t miss this church during your visit to Cortona. This church has got a unique shape, because it has got an elliptical plan. San Benedetto is set in a very scenic context. It has got a round façade without plaster, with exposed bricks, and from the terrace in front of the church, you could have a beautiful and stunning view on the roofs of Cortona. The building has got three big windows without the frame, and one window located over the main entrance. When you enter inside the church, you will be stunned by the richness of decorations: stucco and marble make the interior of the church of San Benedetto very evocative. The statue of “The Flogged Christ” is very interesting and amazing, it was located on the main altar, that dates back to the seventeenth century. This statute, with other statues placed in other churches in Cortona, is carried during the Easter procession of the Good Friday.

The church of San Domenico is one of the churches you can’t miss in Cortona. This church was once part of the Domincan convent of Cortona, one of the most ancient in the area, already documented in 1258. However, the early church, that was built before the actual one, dates back to 1264. The church visible nowadays was built at the end of fourteenth century, and it was consecrated in 1517 by the bishop of Cortona. The external aspect of the church is late gothic, even if some elements belong to the Renaissance period. The interior of the church is full of works of art, and it has got a central aisle, and it is covered by a wood truss ceiling. The presbytery is raised by five little steps and it has got three rectangular apse chapels; this is a characteristic feature of the Gothic church of the mendicant orders. On the greater apse chapel there is a stunning polyptych painted by Lorenzo di Nicolò in the fifteenth century and it represents the Coronation of the Virgin Mary with some Angels and Saints. The polyptych wasn’t meant for Cortona, but it was given in 1440 by Cosimo il Vecchio, to repair the non-execution by Beato Angelico of an altarpiece for the major altar. On the left apse chapel there is also a piece of art of the famous painter from Cortona Luca Signorelli.

The “Via Crucis” (Way of the Cross) is a devotional path made by Gino Severini, the famous artist from Cortona. It is a devotional route that develops along Via Santa Margherita. This path starts from Porta Berarda (the door from which Santa Margherita, the patron saint of Cortona came into the city in 1272). The Via Crucis was commissioned to Gino Severini by the bishop of Cortona, who wanted to thank Santa Margherita saving the city from the wartime destructions. He started working at the Via Crucis making drawing on the cardboards, that later he would have used as base for the mosaics of the fourteen stations. The cardboards today are kept in the Diocesan Museum. He worked on the mosaic in Rome in 1944. In 1961 these stations were completed with the big mosaic on the façade of the church of San Marco. On the mosaic there is the picture of Saint Mark the Evangelist, represented with the lion that is his biblical symbol. The stations of the Via Crucis were preceded by the fifteenth station, dedicated to Santa Margherita who prayed in front of the Cross. Severini said that he liked to represent Margherita, as a truly Saint from Cortona and of people from Cortona. In fact, on the mosaic of the Saint there is the silhouette of the city, with the roofs of the houses, the doors, the churches, the towers, the domes, the sanctuary nestled on the slope of the hill and the fortress of Girifalco. The scenes of the Via Crucis are simple, and they focus on the main characters. The style of the paintings is interpreted cubism. On the mosaics there are some golden leaves that create a surprising effect of bright punctuation. The stations follow along all the avenue, with the mosaics put under the aedicula with sloping roof and they are protected by a glass.
Frances Mayes, the famous American writer, talks about the Via Crucis, on her famous book “Under the Tuscan Sun”.
The access to the Via Crucis is free, and if you come to Cortona, you definitely have to visit this work of art, and follow all the path, up to the top of the hill.

The Cathedral of Cortona is dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, and it rises on the heart of Cortona. The cathedral, or as all people from Cortona call it “Duomo”, was built on the rest of a first parish church already documented in 1086, and it had got a Romanesque style. The Parish church rose on the rests of a pagan temple that probably dates back to fifth and sixth century. In 1262, almost 200 year later from the first building, the church was restored. The church that you can see  today was designed in the second half of fifteenth century, and it was built incorporating the early church, from which you could find the traces in the stones of the façade. The style passed from the Romanesque style, that you can see in the sobriety and asymmetry of the façade, to the Renaissance Romanesque with the interior with three aisles with light capital columns and arches to hold the vault. The Cathedral is the main church of Cortona, one of the most important churches in town, and here the majority of religious function of the city take place.

The Basilica of Santa Margherita is dedicated to the patron Saint of Cortona “Santa Margherita” and it is located on the top of the hill. Margherita had a peculiar story. At the age of 17 she felt in love with a young man, called Arsenio. From this union a baby was born, but outside of marriage. This was a strange and awful situation in the Middle Age. In 1273, during a hunting trip, Arsenio was killed, and she was repudiated by his family. So, she was all alone with a baby, and the best solution is to retire to a convent. She came to Cortona, and entered in the city through Porta Berarda, a door that is still visible nowadays. She was hosted by the Franciscan friars of the monastery of San Francesco. On that place she also founded the hospital (that had been working until about 30 years ago). When the Saint dead, the 22nd of February 1297, the people who lived in Cortona decided to build a church dedicated to her, next to the ancient little church of San Basilio, that Margherita restored after choosing it as place of penance and prayer. She loved this isolated place, near Cortona, where it is possible to see all the Valdichiana. The works for the construction of the church began in 1297, but they finished in 1304. The church has undergone many changes during the ages. The present building is the result of the nineteenth century reconstruction. From the original medieval church remained only the rose window in the façade, the bell tower and the external wall of the choir. People of Cortona and of Val di Chiana celebrate Santa Margherita on the 22nd of February of each year. From the church of Santa Margherita, you can admire all the landscape with a 360°degree view on the beautiful Val di Chiana.

The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie al Calcinaio is a stunning church located in the lower part of the hill of Cortona, outside the city, in a place named Calcinaio. On this location during the Good Friday in 1484, a picture of the Virgin Mary with the Baby, painted on a wall of a tub used for the dressing of leather (called by people of this area “calcinaio” because of the quicklime used for this purpose), started to make miracles and healings. You could also see nowadays this picture on the main altar of the church. After the people devotions to this image, and after the offers in honour of the Virgin Mary, the Corporation of Shoemakers, who have on that place their lime thanks, decided to build a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The project was given to many architects, but they all rejected to build it for the steep terrain and the flow of water. Then the architect Francesco di Giorgio accept to build the church. It also seems that the famous Leonardo da Vinci took part in the design. The works started in 1485, and in the first quarter of 1500, the church reached its final version, at least in the exterior part. The last works continued slowly; in fact, the main portal was finished in 1543. When you enter inside the church, what affects you the most will be the light, that rains from the top, spreads on all the extension of the church. This is the reason why the visit is suggested especially in the morning and during the sunny day. The structure of the church has got a unique aisle flanked by two side chapel with a transept and a dome from the intersection of the presbytery equal beams.
The church is essential in its construction and what makes it so beautiful is its simplicity. Its architecture has got white and grey lines and arches that cross over each other.
Inside and outside the church there are references to Brunelleschi, one of the most famous architects in Italy during the Renaissance period.

In Cortona there is an ancient pottery tradition, that is carried on also nowadays by some craftsmen of Cortona. If you are walking down the traditional alleys of Cortona, you could see the local pottery shops, that sell you the typical Cortona pottery. The traditional “cocci” (the dialect word that means pottery) were used as simple and everyday objects, like plates, glasses, vases and jars. During the ancient times, the Cortona potteries were produced, cooked and sold in a specific part of the city: the area called “I Cocciai”, that is a little neighbourhood just outside the city wall. You could also see nowadays this zone, which corresponds to Via del Duomo Vecchio (because originally the cathedral of Cortona was located in this place) and Borgo San Vincenzo. The original decoration was the mottled one, and it is characterized by yellow background with green spots. If you visit the ceramic’s shops in town, you could find this design on the pottery. Once the colours were made from natural ingredients that were all available in the countryside. This type of decoration reminds the shades of Valdichiana hills, full of sunflowers and wheat fields. The flower on the decoration is a daisy or a sunflower, and it is green and brown on a yellow background. The story of Cortona ceramics does not concern only the popular flower, but it reveals an important tradition coming from centuries ago. In the early nineteenth century Cortona had its own production of fine ceramics. The pottery from that period was produced in an important factory called Catrosse. The name “Catrosse” was the name of the villa where the Venuti brothers, a noble family of Cortona, lived, and here they founded the furnaced and produced the pottery in 1796. In town there are two craft shops that sells the typical pottery from Cortona. They still nowadays produce all the ceramics manually: one is “L’Antico Cocciaio”, located in Via Benedetti 24, the other is “Terrabruga”, located in Via Nazionale 54. When you come to Cortona do not miss to visit the two shops, because you will be struck by the beauty of this pottery.

Cortona is a city surrounded by Etruscan walls. In the Middle Age to access to the city there were five doors, that are still visible nowadays and used to access to the city: Porta Sant’Agostino, Porta Santa Maria, Porta Colonia, Porta Montanina, Porta Bifora and Porta Berarda. The one of which we talk here today is: Porta Bifora. Porta Bifora has an interesting story behind it. Once it was called the "cursed door." But why? Here's the story. On February 2nd, 1258, during the 13th century, the Ghibellines from Arezzo, along with exiled Guelphs from Cortona, entered the city secretly, planning to take control. A man from Cortona helped them by letting them in through Porta Bifora. Once inside, they burned and looted the city. Because of this, when the city's walls were later repaired, the door was closed. People believed it was cursed because of the betrayal by the inhabitant from Cortona, who let the Ghibellines enter inside the town. Nowadays it is open, and it is one of the easiest accesses to the town. 

In June there is the Giostra dell’Archidado, a crossbow race where all the ancient districts of Cortona compete to win the so-called verretta d’oro, a golden arrow. The Giostra dell’Archidado was officially established in 1397 to celebrate the wedding between Francesco Casali, the lord of Cortona, and Antonia Salimbeni, a noble woman from Siena. Every year the city of Cortona reenacts this historical event during the second Sunday of June. All the city dresses up with flags along all the streets, people dress with medieval dresses, there will be flag wavers and musicians… you will make a step back in time. This year the events around the Archidado joust will take place on the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th of June. 
If you want to know more about the joust and the linked events, you can click the button below.

During the first weekend of June, linked with the events of the Giostra dell'Archidado, Cortona makes a step back in the Middle Age with the medieval market, that takes place in Piazza Signorelli. Here you could find ancient markets of craftsmen, and you could taste the ancient medieval taste at the Taverna del Balestriere (Crossbowman tavern). In the market you can find many handicrafts from the soap, to the wicker basket market stall, and you could enjoy a fantastic and peculiar atmosphere. If you have the chance, come to Cortona during this period, because you will find yourselves back in time. This year the medieval market will take place on the 31st May 2025, 1st-2nd June 2025. Below you can find the button with the link to the Giostra dell'Archidado website.

During the month of May there is the reenactment of the feast in honour of Santa Margherita, the patron saint of Cortona. Once, during the Middle Ages, in the day of the feast of Santa Margherita, each ancient district of Cortona, that once were called Terzieri because the city was divided into three districts, came to the main square to offer the wax to make a candle in honour of the Saint. Once made, these candles were blessed and brought to the church of Santa Margherita, to offer them to the Saint. Nowadays, there is the reenactment of this tradition, and all people of each district of Cortona, dressed with medieval dresses, parade each one in its own street and they meet all together in the main square of the city, Piazza della Repubblica, where there is the performance of the flag wavers and musicians of the historical group of Cortona. After the performance all the candles for the Saint are blessed, and they started a parade that goes from Piazza della Repubblica to the church of Santa Margherita. This year the reenactment will take place on the 23rd and 24th of May 2025.

Bigordi Banderie is the international festival of flags that each year takes place in Cortona. It was created by the Gruppo Storico di Cortona (historical group of the city), which includes flag wavers and musicians (trumpet and drum players). This year it is the 3rd edition of the festival, and there will be many groups taking part. The name of the festival (Bigordi Banderie) came from the municipal statue of Cortona of 1325, where there were mentioned some flags used during the performances in honour of Santa Margherita, the patron Saint of Cortona. The performers used the Bigordi Banderie, a peculiar type of flags with very long flagpole. The historical group of Cortona still use this kind of flags during their shows, and if you have the chance to see this performances, these flags will let you make a step back in time, when there were the medieval jousts. The festival Bigordi Banderie was founded in 2023, with the will of making Cortona the Italian capital of the flag art. The purpose of this festival is the one of joining in Cortona many different styles of flag shows, from the ancient to the more modern one. During the various edition of the festival, many international groups were invited. This year, among some groups from all over Italy, there will be a Spanish historical group from Tortosa. This event is organized in cooperation with Consiglio dei Terzieri and supported by Comune di Cortona. This year, Bigordi Banderie will take place on the 17th and 18th of May 2025.
If you want to know more about festival and about the historical group of Cortona, you can click the link below to their website.

The church of San Marco is located in the city centre of Cortona, along via Santa Margherita. San Marco, together with Santa Margherita, is the patron Saint of Cortona. The peculiarity of this church is that is composed by two superimposed churches. Another characteristic feature of this church is the big outdoor mosaic, representing the saint and his symbol: the lion. The history of the building dates back to the end of sixteenth century. During that time the Company of the Holy Trinity of Lay people designed this construction to be dedicated to the Holy Trinity.  In reality in the location where there is the church, there was an hospital for pilgrims. You can access to the upper church through a Baroque gate made during a later period. On the lower church of San Marco there is the already mentioned mosaic dedicated to San Marco and made in 1961 by the famous artist Gino Severini. The church of San Marco is not always open to public, and if you want to visit it you should ask the tourist office for some further information. Annexed to the church there is a small museum that preserve some sacred objects. The church keeps also a statue of Jesus, that together with other statues placed in other churches in Cortona, is carried during the Easter procession of the Good Friday.

Cortona is also famous all over the world for its wine tradition. The historical researches say that the winery production of Cortona dates back to the Etruscan period, in which, thanks to the weather conditions of the area, the Etruscans planted the vineyards using a particular technique, that is based on the concept of mixing this type of cultivation with other arboreal plants. There are many scenes of banquets with some figures, on some Etruscan amphorae and vases, portrayed the moment when they drink wine. There are some written traces of the famous Roman author Plinio il Giovane, who precisely talks about the excellent wines of Etruria, praising particularly a wine called Estesiaca produced in the area of Cortona.  The DOC wine of Cortona has got mainly 3 types of wines: red, white and Vin Santo. The suitable grapes of the winery production of Cortona DOC are the ones traditionally cultivated in the production area. Among the red one are noteworthy: Sangiovese, Merlot and Syrah; among the white one: Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Grechetto wine and Tuscan Trebbiano. Among these wines the most famous is the Syrah. The first testimonies of the Syrah production date back to the 1960s, when some private companies, finding some traces inside their vineyards, decided first to develops some surveys around its genomic origin, then to cultivate it.
If you come to Cortona you have to try a good glass of wine in one of the various wine bars you can find inside the city. 

Cortona, as all Tuscany and Italy, has got an important gastronomic tradition. The culinary heritage of Cortona is influenced by all the rural traditions of the Valdichiana. Nowadays on the table of the Cortona’s locals, and also in restaurants inside the town, we could find typical recipes that come from the past. A typical Cortona meal could start with the tasty bruschette, some toasted slices of bread that are topped with extra virgin olive oil produced by the local farms, with the supplement of black cabbage, if it is autumn or winter. This vegetable is widely used in the Tuscan tradition, in fact it is the basis of lots of recipes in Tuscany. One of the typical Tuscan sauces for the croutons is the so-called crostino nero, “black” one, that is traditional of this area and the area nearby. Among the first courses there are the soups, particularly the ones made with fresh vegetables, even if the pici are the kings of tables in Cortona. It is a kind of handmade pasta a little bit thicker than spaghetti, made with water and flour, throw a process called appicciatura. The pici are well matched with sauces meat based or nana based (nana is the dialect word for female duck). Other sauces are bread crumbs based or made with tomatoes and aglione della Valdichiana IGP (a typical big garlic that grows only in Valdichiana and that is PGI). Other culinary specialities from Cortona are influenced by the ancient habit of hunting through the woods of Valdichiana. For this reason, lots of second courses are hunting meat based, as wild boar or roe deer. But also, other meats are used to make the sauce for pasta, as the meats of farm animals like rabbits, chicken and ocio (male duck), that once were originally cooked at the end of summer, when farmers used to do the threshing of the wheat, and the duck were offered to the farmers at the end of the work as a thankfulness for their job. The ocio is usually cooked roast in the oven, but it is also used to make the sauce of the pasta, and this type of pasta is really delicious! If you find this on the menu of the restaurants in Cortona, you should try it!
Among desserts there are some of them you can’t miss to taste, as castagnaccio, a cake made with chestnut flour, the rice fritters and the ciaramiglia, a typical cake made during the Easter period.  You could try all this delicious food in the restaurant of the city centre, where you could eat the typical food of Tuscany and Italy. 

A few kilometres far from the city of Cortona, there is the beautiful and historical Abbey of Farneta. The church was built between the ninth and tenth century by the Benedictine monks, and it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary of the Assumption. The abbey was the “mother” of lots of other abbeys spread all over Italy. The first document, where the abbey is mentioned, dates back to the 1014. There is nothing left from the original convent part, but the church survived, even if after the departure of the monks, its dimension was heavily reduced. Today the abbey has got a Romanesque style, with only one aisle, three apses in the wall at the bottom and two apses that you can see in the heading of the transept. Originally it had the aspect of a basilica with three aisles. At the side of the entrance there are two granite columns, that come from Roman buildings. The part that has maintained its original aspect is the presbytery, over the precious and fascinating crypt. The structure resumes the sacellum of the early Christian cemeteries, with two side cells with a shamrock shape and one central cell with a four-leaf clover shape. Near the church and in the area of Farneta, during the 1960s, the priest of the abbey don Sante Felici, passionate about palaeontology and archaeology, found some fossil remains of mammoth and other animals from Pleistocene, some Etruscan urns and a Roman tomb. All these findings once were in the sacristy, today these are preserved in the primary school of Farneta.

The church of San Niccolò is a small, but stunning church located in the upper part of Cortona, on the quarter of the city called by all people that live in Cortona: “Poggio”. The church has got a Romanesque style, and it dates back to around fifteenth century. Inside the church there are lots of piece of art, among which you can admire a paint of the famous Luca Signorelli, the painter born in Cortona. There is a small driveway that takes you to a wide churchyard, enclosed by a wall, in front of the church entrance. The church is preceded by an original fifteenth century portico, restored in 1930. Even if the church is not so big, is one of the most characteristic and beautiful churches in Cortona. Inside the church is kept also a statue of Jesus, that together with other statues located in other churches of Cortona, is carried during the Easter procession of the Good Friday.

Via Jannelli, better known as via del Gesù, is one of the most characteristic alleys you could find in the city centre of Cortona. This street is surmounted by the back façade of the church of Gesù. The peculiarity of this alley is the presence of some houses that date back to 1300. The houses have still got some parts of their original medieval architecture. These structures have the external face stone and brick made, jambs, doors and lintels stone made, brackets wooden that support the prominent upper floor. Walking along this street you will immediately do a step back in time.

Going up on the hill of Cortona, you will reach a beautiful and quiet area of the city. This little garden is located inside the quarter called, by all people from Cortona, Poggio. This name dates back to the Middle Age, when the city of Cortona, after the formation of a new urban centre, was divided into three districts: the district of San Vincenzo, the district of Santa Maria and the district of San Marco and Poggio. The district of San Marco and Poggio was the one located in the upper part of Cortona. From here, you could reach the church of Santa Margherita, the church of the patron saint of the city. It is one of the most stunning areas in Cortona, because in a few minutes you can easily reach the centre of Cortona, but at the same time you are located on a quiet and peaceful area. In the quarter of Poggio you could find two important churches: the church of San Niccolò and the small, but beautiful church of San Cristoforo. If you go straight on, passing the church of San Cristoforo, you will meet the Etruscan walls, and passing one of the door of the city called Porta Montanina, you could go out of town and from this part you can admire a beautiful landscape of the Val di Chiana, and an amazing silhouette of Cortona.

“Eremo delle Celle” is a masterpiece you can’t miss if you come to visit the area of Cortona. It is located just few kilometres far from the town, and it is a place of peace and calm. The monastery is built surrounded by nature and woods. The Eremo is one of the first Franciscan settlement chosen and wanted by San Francesco of Assisi. The history of the hermitage begins before the arrival of San Francesco. In fact, the name of this location Celle says that in this place once there was the ancient presence of small caves originated from the rocks, and used by the local shepherds and farmers. San Francesco arrived in Cortona in 1211 together with friar Silvestro. Thanks to a blessed from Cortona named Guido Vagnottelli, he knew this place. Francesco made some cells, included the one where he stayed many times, until few months before his death. You could still see his cell, that remained the same as it was when San Francesco was alive. After the death of the Saint, the monastery was fixed and expanded by friar Elia, the general minister of the Order of Friars Minors of that period. The construction works for the monastery, as it is today, began in 1235, when Frate Elia, who was from Cortona, started to build the first part of the convent. From the 1537 the monastery is inhabited by the Capuchin order of monks. Around the Eremo there is a beautiful wood of holm oak and cypress. And inside this wood there is a bridge, called Ponte del Granduca (Bridge of Gran Duke), that is over the river that go through the hermitage. This bridge dates back to 1728, and it was ordered by the Grand duke of Tuscany. The wood that surrounds the bridge and all the hermitage, dates back to very ancient times, because already in the oldest reproductions of hermitage, you can clearly see the big trees that surrounds the monastery. The hermitage is always generally open, so you could go and visit it when you like. Don’t miss the chance to visit this place, because is a place of soul, spirituality and nature, and this visit will remain in your heart and in your mind.