Berlitz: Tuscany and Umbria Pocket Guide by Insight Guides

Author:Insight Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Tuscany
Publisher: APA

Heavy defeat

Lake Trasimene might be peaceful now, but in 217BC its waters ran red with the blood of Roman legions, more than 16,000 of whom were slaughtered by Hannibal’s troops in one of Rome’s worst defeats.

Lake Trasimene beneath a stormy sky

Dreamstime

Cortona and Lago di Trasimeno

If you travel south of Arezzo for just 30km (18 miles) on the SR71, a busy local road that serves many farming communities and at points is overlooked by little hillside towns and castles, you will come to what is often and justifiably called Tuscany’s most beautiful hill town: Cortona , [map].

The Etruscans were among the first to appreciate the lofty heights upon which Cortona is built, and much of what they left behind, including a bronze lamp, is housed in the town’s small Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca (Apr–Oct daily 10am–7pm, Nov–Mar Tue–Sun until 5pm; charge; www.cortonamaec.org). What is most striking about Cortona, though, belongs to a much later period, and that is its unspoiled medieval architecture. The town is untouched by modern development and unfolds in a series of theatrical piazzas; at its heart, the Piazza Garibaldi opens into the Piazza Signorelli. The town’s other treasures also emerged from the medieval centuries – frescoes and panels by Fra Angelico in the Museo Diocesano, across from the Duomo.

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