Cortona

Sunday October 11, 2015

Tokyo, Japan

Drizzling

Pino who became one of our favorite people in the world told us he lived in Cortona and is worth a visit. So the day after a full day in Florence, we decided to take the 30 minute or so drive to Cortona. We liked it so much that we decided to stop at Cortona again before our trip to Siena on Friday. We had a bit of a late start so arrived in Cortona around 1130. Our first stop was lunch at a restaurant recommended by Elizabeth. I had my first Italian T-bone steak which was delicious! It was a rainy day so it was nice to be in a cozy and beautiful restaurant. After a leisurely lunch we took a stroll around the town but found that most shops were closed during the lunch hour. We also heard that the Estruca museum is a must see so we went there before our trip to Siena. And it did not disappoint. We thought one hour would be enough but the museum is deceptively large. I would say you need to leave about 2 hours. Many of the displays are from during the Estrucan period which is like 400 BC and are in great condition. I was amazed and would have liked to have spent more time there. But who knew?

Cortona is definitely worth a visit. It is located in Arezzo, Tuscany and the medieval city is on top of a hill with steep narrow streets. The town is so picturesque that many scenes from the movie Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed here. You can also get a great view of Lake Trasimeno here which was the scene of Hannibal’s ambush of the Roman Army some 2500 years ago.

Our lunch spot, highly recommend this place