Twenty minutes from us on a hill overlooking the next valley is the hill town of Cortona. When we do not want to drive too far, this is the most convenient place to head to. It is certainly no chore since it is one of the most picturesque towns in Tuscany. The restaurants that we have tried are pretty good and decent value, some of which are excellent such as the Osteria del Teatro and La Loggiato, whose Terrace overlooks the square and where Diane Lane enjoyed a drink with a suitor in the film ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’. We often (more like invariably) visit the Snoopy gelateria for cherry ice cream.

Cortona was part of the Etruscan league and similar to other cities in Umbria and Tuscany, rulers changed regularly throughout the centuries - from Rome through to the Medici family until it became a part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1855. Today, the town still has some remnants of the Etruscan period (and there is a Museum dedicated to the Etruscan period), while the buildings are mostly Medieval in architecture and some from the later Renaissance period. The church of Santa Maria Nuova was designed by Vasari, who is responsible for much of the architecture around the main square in Siena including the Loggia.

From the valley below, the town is impressive and, fortunately, unlike many other cities with a similar history, there has been only a little building outside of the old city walls making the town look quite unspoilt from below. The hill is steep, showing the town and buildings to best effect. Some of the buildings are large and were mainly built by the church. There are in excess of 20 churches, monasteries, and abbeys within and just outside the walls plus several museums and important art works, again, not surprisingly, of religious subjects.

Today, Cortona has a wine region in its own right and the main industry is tourism. It is a definite must visit with its fantastic views, pretty houses and churches, narrow cobbled streets, excellent dining and a very wide variety of good quality shops including several antique, book, colthing and shoe shops, art and ceramic retail galleries, jewellers and souvenir shops.