CORTONA, ITALY

Cortona, Italy is one of the most famous the Tuscan hill towns although it's important to realise that Cortona is more of a Tuscany "hillside town" than "hilltop town" and consequently has a great many steep streets and lanes and only one horizontal one - by no means unique in this part of Italy. Nevertheless, for anyone visiting central Italy, the sights of Cortona are definitely worth a day at the very least, preferably two days. The Cortona Museums house world-class art, ranging from Etruscan and Egyptian in the Cortona Etruscan Museum, through early Renaissance in the Cortona Diocesan Museum. Cortona is well-endowed with a variety of Renaissance architecture even though the prevalent character of the townscape is mediaeval. The main piazza of Cortona, Italy, Piazza della Repubblica, has a wonderful ambience and forms the focal centre of Cortona. The highest point on the hill of Cortona is dominated by a huge Medicean fort from which the visitor can admire not only the town but the..