World Travel https://www.youtube.com/user/World1Tube Tuscany, Italy Travel Guide http://bit.ly/15G05Z6 Shepherd Entertainment takes you on a tour of Cortona, which is the main cultural and artistic center of the Val di Chiana in the province of Arezzo in Tuscany, Italy. Visit Cortona in Tuscany Italy The variety of the landscape in Tuscany catches the traveler's attention not once. Five lives wouldn't be enough to get to know it besides Frances Mayes who popularized this land. Theophile Gautier wrote the following in 1850, "An azure blue panorama of plains, mountains and valleys; scattered towns and country houses along the horizon, in an interplay of light and shadow." And it's still true. Frances Mayes an American writer and poet didn't choose the surroundings of Cortona by chance when she was searching for a house in Tuscany. Four of her books have been published so her enthusiastic readers have also fallen in love with Bramasol Mansion and its neighborhood. The readers came to Cortona like pilgrims and some of them had even bought houses here. The city was a member of the Etruscan Alliance. Its museum can be proud of important Etruscan objects and several tombs from that time can be found in its surroundings. Cortona is surrounded by a wall and rises 500 meters above the valley. It has steep narrow streets and stairs. Frances Mayer writes about this place as follows: The main street Via Nazionale is still usually referred to by locals by its older name of - or leveled street. It's a pedestrian zone but the other parts of the city can't be reached by car. The streets are too narrow and steep. The lower streets are linked with the upper ones by alleys and vicolos. The center consists of two irregular piazzas which are connected by a short street. A sensible city planner would never plan anything like this. But irrespectively with this, it's full of feeling. The town hall of the 14th Century stands in the Piazza de la Republica. [Foreign Language] on its 24 wide stairs is like an auditorium from where the whole square can be seen. Flanking the square, their harmonious buildings, the unity interrupted only by the mouth of the three Streets. This leads from the city gate to here. The square and streets are full of life. It's wonderful that there are no cars here. I walked to Piazza Signorelli which was named after one of Cortona's famous people. The tables in the terrace of two cafes extend as far as the square. I always look at the lonely stone Lion of Florence which passes time on top of a column. It's impossible to arrive at square too late. We can always find somebody here sipping a cup of coffee before the clock strikes midnight. Everybody however fit they are, is short of breath by the time they reached the heights of the city but it's worth walking there even in the hot sun at noon. The traces of the arches of the one-time cloister can be found under the side of San Francesco church which is always closed. At 33 Via Peratini, a memorial plaque calls attention to Pietro Peratini who was born here. I found out that he was Pietro de Cortona. We reached the shady piazzas, old houses, the terraces; small gardens can be seen in front of us. Each street is cleaned here and so are the houses. If they find even a very small empty place, they'll plant tomatoes or lettuce there. In the pots, geraniums and hydrangeas bloom sometimes growing to be as big as a bush and somehow they always have pink flowers. Tags: Visit Cortona in Tuscany,Cortona in Tuscany,shepherd entertainment,Tuscany Travel Attractions,Tuscany travel guide,Tuscany travel information,Tuscany travel tips,world travel,shepherdfilm,Visit Cortona in Tuscany Italy

• published: 05 Sep 2013
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