Cortona

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Cortona
Comune
Città di Cortona
Cortona-vista01.jpg
Coat of arms of Cortona
Coat of arms
Country Italy
Region Tuscany
Province / Metropolitan city Arezzo (AR)
Frazioni Adatti, Bocena, Borgonuovo, Camucia, Cantalena, Capezzine Centoia, Casale, Cegliolo, Chianacce, Cignano, Creti, Falzano, Farneta, Fasciano, Fossa del Lupo, Fratta, Fratticciola, Gabbiano, Mengaccini, Mercatale, Mezzavia, Monsigliolo, Montalla, Montanare, Montecchio, Novelle, Ossaia, Pergo, Pierle, Pietraia, Poggioni, Portole, Riccio, Ronzano, Ruffignano, San Donnino Val di Pierle, San Lorenzo Rinfrena, San Marco in Villa, San Pietro a Cegliolo, San Pietro a Dame, Santa Caterina, Sant’Andrea di Sorbello, Sant’Angelo, Seano, Sodo, Tavarnelle, Terontola, Teverina, Tornia, Torreone, Valecchie, Vallone.
Government
 • Mayor Luciano Meoni
Area
 • Total 343 km2 (132 sq mi)
Elevation 494 m (1,621 ft)
Population (30 June 2017)[1]
 • Total 22,104
 • Density 64/km2 (170/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Cortonesi
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 52044
Dialing code 0575
Patron saint Saint Margaret of Cortona
Saint day 22 February
Website Official website

Cortona (/kɔːrˈtoʊnə/, Italian: [korˈtoːna]) 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.

History

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File:Etruscan2.jpg
Tabula Cortonensis
The Palazzo Comunale

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.[citation needed][2]

Cortona eventually became a Roman colony under the name Corito. The origin-legends and ancient names of Cortona are described by George Dennis.[3] In the final stages of the Gothic War (535–554), Cortona was sacked and destroyed.

Cortona became a Ghibellinian 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 became 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.

Cortona foundation legend

The foundation of Cortona remains mixed in legends dating to classic times. These were later reworked especially in the late Renaissance period under Cosimo I de' Medici. The 17th-century Guide of Giacomo Lauro, reworked from writings of Annio da Viterbo, states that 108 years after the Great Flood, Noah entered the Valdichiana via the Tiber and Paglia rivers. He preferred this place to anywhere else in Italy, because it was so fertile, and dwelt there for thirty years. One of Noah's descendants was Crano, his son who came to the hilltop and, liking the high position, the fine countryside and the calm air, built the city of Cortona on it in 273 years after the Great Flood.

Name

Cortona is derived from Latin Cortōna, and from Etruscan 𐌂𐌖𐌓𐌕𐌖𐌍 (curtun).[4] This may be related to Indo-European *ghortos meaning "enclosed place" and consequently walled city like Latin hortus, German garten, Italian orto, English yard, and Slavic grad. The name may also be linked to the Phrygian town of Gordium in Anatolia, although the founding myth for the latter is that it was named after founder, King Gordias. However, the Etruscan language is probably a pre-Indo-European language, and therefore if it was named by the Etruscans, an Indo-European etymology is uncertain. The Umbrian language, by contrast, is an Italic language, so if it was named by them, a link to Indo-European roots would be more likely.

George Dennis suggests that it was known by many names "Corytus, Croton, Crotona, Cyrtonion, Creston, Gotynaea, Cothernia, or Cortona. The latter name, if we may believe Dionysius (Dionysius Periegetes) (I. p21) was only given when the city was made a Roman colony, not long before his day, taking the place of the old appellation, Croton. Of Corythus, we have already spoken. Cyrtonios or Cyrtonion is the name used by Polybius (III.82) and Stephanus of Byzantium. Creston is found only in Herodotus, and will be further mentioned presently. Cortynaea is used by Lycophron (Cass. 806), and by Theopompus (ap. Tzetz. ad Lycoph. loc. cit.), who records a tradition that Ulysses, called by the Etruscans, Nanos (cf. Lycoph. 1244; Tzetzes in loc.), sailed to Etruria, took up his abode at Gortynaea, and there died. This says Müller is the Hellenised form of Cortona, for no other Etruscan city can be here intended. Etrusk. IV.4, 1.".[5]

Cortona DOC

In 2000, Cortona established Cortona DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata), which has 29 members that produce and control 14 different types of wines.

Main sights

Via Nazionale or Ruga Piana

The prevailing character of Cortona's architecture is medieval with steep narrow streets situated on a hillside at an elevation of 600 metres (2,000 ft) that embraces a view of the whole of the Valdichiana. From the Piazza Garibaldi (still referred to by the local population by its older name, Piazza Carbonaia) is a fine prospect of Lake Trasimeno, scene of Hannibal's ambush of the Roman army in 217 BC (Battle of Lake Trasimene). Parts of the Etruscan city wall can still be seen today as the basis of the present wall. The main street, via Nazionale, is the only street in the town with no gradient, and is still usually referred to by locals by its older name of Ruga Piana.

The view from Piazza Garibaldi. Lake Trasimeno can be seen in the distance.
The view from Piazza Garibaldi. Lake Trasimeno can be seen in the distance.

Inside the Palazzo Casali is the Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca, displaying items from Etruscan, Roman, and Egyptian civilizations, as well as art and artefacts 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 artefacts 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 modelled 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 (tinscvil) by the Musni family at that time.[6] The Museum contains several other important Etruscan bronzes.

The Fra Angelico Annunciation

Etruscan chamber-tombs nearby include the Tanella di Pitagora[7] (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. Il Sodo I, 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.[8] This tomb can be visited. Il Sodo II contained a large stone-stepped altar platform with carved sphinxes devouring warriors.[9]

The town's chief artistic treasures are two panels by Fra Angelico in the Diocesan Museum, an Annunciation and a Madonna and Child with Saints. A third surviving work by the same artist is the fresco above the entrance to the church of San Domenico, likewise painted during his stay at Cortona in 1436. The Diocesan Museum houses also a group of work by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, known as Lo Spagnuolo, called Ecstasy of Saint Margaret. 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.

The villa Bramasole, built in 1504, was used as the location for the 2003 film Under the Tuscan Sun.[10]

Renaissance architecture

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Further information: Renaissance architecture
The Church of Santa Maria Nuova, 1554, a central square-plan Renaissance church

Santa Maria Nuova, built by Giorgio Vasari in 1554, is a domed church with a centralized Greek cross layout. Inside are four large columns which supports the lantern of the cupola. At the sides the four arms of the cross branch out covered with barrel-vaults, while four small cupolas arise in the spaces of the angles. The interior contains paintings depicting a Nativity by Alessandro Allori, San Carlo Borromeo administers communion to those afflicted by Plague by Baccio Ciarpi, and an Annunciation by Empoli. The church is in poor condition, and the interior is not open for visitors.

Santa Maria delle Grazie al Calcinaio was built in 1484–1515 by Francesco di Giorgio Martini to shelter a putatively miraculous icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the "Madonna del Calcinaio".[11] This image was originally painted on the timbers of a lime-vat, a calcinaio, hence the name. A centralized Renaissance design was applied to the design of the nave: the eastern part of the building was generally developed into a centralized form, which would then be crowned with a large cupola, foreshadowing the cathedral at Florence. The restored interior has unusually high arches.

Other churches

Transportation

Cortona may be accessed by rail: the closest station is Camucia-Cortona, 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) away. In addition Terontola-Cortona station lies in the district of Terontola. Both stations lie on the Florence–Rome railway, while Terontola-Cortona station is also at the junction with the line to Foligno, via Perugia. There are direct trains from Florence, Rome, and Foligno (via Perugia).

People

File:Calvi J. A. Estasi di santa Margherita.jpg
Saint Margaret of Cortona

International relations

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See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Italy

Cortona is twinned with:[12][13]

In popular culture

Cortona was featured as one of the destinations in a travel episode of Conan, where Conan O'Brien and Jordan Schlansky (one of the show's associate producers) visits Italy.[14] Schlansky, being a recurring visitor of Cortona, is awarded a parking space by the city's mayor and introduces O' Brien to his favourite restaurant, where he, with questionable success, explains the food, wine, and the surrounding area, to his travel companion.

Cortona was also featured in Frances Mayes' book Under the Tuscan Sun, basis for the eponymous movie starring Diane Lane. She visits Cortona on a tour and buys a villa on the outskirts.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Population data from Istat
  2. ↑ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yard#etymology
  3. ↑ George Dennis, The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, Chapter LVI (Everyman's Library 1907, II, 379ff.)
  4. ↑ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cortona
  5. ↑ https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/_Periods/Roman/Archaic/Etruscan/_Texts/DENETR*/56.html
  6. ↑ P. Bruschetti et al., Il Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca di Cortona, Catalogo (2nd Ediz., Calosci, Cortona 1996). See also George Dennis, as above, 387-89.
  7. ↑ G. Dennis, as above, 390–393.
  8. ↑ G. Dennis, as above, pp. 393–96.
  9. ↑ La Cortona dei Principes, ed P.Zamarchi Grassi, Cortona 1992.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ G. Binding, Meister der Baukunst. Geschichte des Architekten- und Ingenieurberufes (Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2004), p. 158.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7hlIbJkvUQ

External links

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