CORTONA
toscana
Sites: The Walls, The Gateways, The Fortress, The Duomo - Church of St. Maria, Church of St. Margaret, The Farneta Abbey, Bramasole - Frances Mayes's House.
THE WALLS
The ring of walls, today a bit short of 3 kilometers, was constructed by the Etruscans around the end of the 5th century B.C. and can be seen at the base of the current day walls. It has a rectangular with the greater sides facing the north and south, the shorter sides face east and west. The short west side is very well preserved and the site of a recent re-opening and restoration of the Etruscan gateway with unique double barrel-vaulted portals. It follows within the Etruscan perimeters. The first length of the larger north side from Porta Santa Maria follows the course of the Etruscan perimeter until the area above Porta Colonia where it reveals a sewer spout which dates back to the time of construction of the original wall. The remainder of the northern lenght of wall was moved slightly toward the direction of a place called Torre Mozza. There are consistent traces and evidence of this old perimeter wall and more about this place still remains to be discovered. It is likely that there was a temple or a fortification and an entry gate to the city (Porta di Montagna or Augurata?) at this point. The number and the positions of the Etruscan gateways is still to be determined.
THE GATEWAYS
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In the 3rd century after the Roman conquest, the damaged parts of the walls were reconstructed and raised in height. Four gateways were placed at the exits from the Roman city, from the decumano (the principal east-west roman road) Porta Santa Maria and Porta San Domenico (also called Peccioverardi) and from the cardo (principal north-south Roman axis road) Porta Sant'Agostino and Porta Colonia. In the middle ages the walls were heavily damaged during the attack of 1258, they were subsequentaly reconstructed and repristined with the help from the people of Perugia and most of all from the Sienese. The two-opening Etruscan gateway was closed (Porta Bacarelli) and other gateways were opened: Porta Montanina (origanally called San Cristoforo), Porta Berarda and Porta San Giorgio, the last two were closed-up probably at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1642, the period of the war for the Duke of Castro, the walls on the west side were further reinforced under the granducale government as we are informed by an inscription in marble placed above the archway of the Porta Bifora. Towards the end of the 19th century the existing wall was opened to form Porta Santa Margherita to give access to the sanctuary nearby.
THE FORTRESS
In 1556, on the north east corner of the rectangular city walls, at its highest point, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I had a fortress constructed. It rose from structures which had been fortifications during Etruscan, Roman and Medieval times. The last having been destroyed in the sack of 1258. The fortress was the work of Gabrio Serbelloni, nephew of Pope Pius IV and Francesco Laparelli of Cortona. The structure is trapezoidal in shape with four large bastions. It continues to be a beautiful example of military architecture of the 1500's. After its reconstruction in modern times there is no news of battles which took place in it. Recently restored it now is the site of art exhibitions and the "Centro Studi e Documentazione sulla Civiltà Contadina della Valdichiana e Trasimeno" (Studying and Documentation Center on the Farmer Civilization of Valdichiana and Trasimeno), a research center dedicated to the study of the peasant or folk history of the Valdichiana and Lake Trasimeno areas.
CHURCH OF ST. MARIA ASSUNTA - THE DUOMO (XV century)
The church of St. Maria Assunta as known as the Cathedral or Duomo rests on the ruins visible on the facade of the ancient parish church. It is one of the oldest if not the oldest church of the city. It was constructed at the dawn of the age of Christianity perhaps in the 4th century on the foundations of pagan temple. Its actual form is due to constructions which took place in the second half of the 14th century on designs attributed to Giuliano da Sangallo. Immediately after the new constructions the church was declared the Diocese cathedral taking the title away from the church of San Vincenzo located outside the walls. The central doorway and the side door are both works by Cristofanello (XVI century). The main altar is the precious work of 1664 of Francesco Mazzuoli of Cortona. The bell tower of 1556 is the work of the Cortonese architect Francesco Laparelli, who constructed the city of La Valletta on the island of Malta and the fortification of the Mass of Sant'Angelo's Castle in Rome. The interior of the church has underwent heavy remodelling in the 18th century. At the altars in the chorus various paintings are conserved among which are the Nativity by Pietro of Cortona, The Death of Saint Joseph by Lorenzo Berrettini, a Crucifixion and the Doubting Saint Thomas from the Signorelli School, The Communion of the Madonna by Sante Castellucci and two Madonnas with saints, one by Cigoli and the other by Alessandro Allori. The marble ciborium on the left wall of the presbytery is attributed to Ciuccio di Nuccio. In the Venuti chapel to the right of the apse are the three brothers Marcello, Ridolfino and Filippo, founders of the "Accademia Etrusca". On the right rear wall is a funerary monument to the Cortonese citizen Giovan Battista Tommasi "Gran Maestro dell'Ordine di Malta" (Great Master of the Malta's Order). Through a door in the pavement placed at the center of the presbytery is the access to a crypt where the tombs of some of the bishops of the diocese were placed.
CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET (XIII century)
The church rises from an enchanting position on the high part of the hill. On the site of the present day church existed a small church built by the Camaldolesi monks in the 11th century and dedicated to Saint Basil. The small church was damaged during the sack of Cortona in 1258 and reconstructed in 1288 by Saint Margaret and along with St. Basil it was also dedicated to Sant'Egidio and Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Saint Margaret died in 1297 in a room at the back of the little church where she had lived the last year of her life. She was buried in the little church of Saint Basil. Immediately after the death of Margaret, the Cortonese constructed a larger church designed by Giovanni Pisano where in 1330 they transferred the body of the Saint. From then on this church was simply called the church of Santa Margherita. This church was embellished with paintings and sculpture mainly from the Sienese workshops, of which remain a few paltry relics; such as the sarcophagus of the Saint and the Rose window installed in the modern day facade. Two marble madonnas and a remainder of a fresco attributed to Lorenzetti are conserved at the Diocese Museum. The church underwent considerable Baroque transformations in 1738 and in modern times, in the second half of the 19th century, until the little church as well as the larger church by Pisano were completely demolished and therefore unrecognizable today. Of the early constructions only the choir and two vaults, the second and third of the central nave exist. As it appears today the church is the work of architect Falcini, who modified the project of Presenti as far as the interior is concerned. The facade is the work of Cortonese architect Domenico Mirri (1856-1939) who took over the supervision job from Father Paolo (1803-1878). He left behind a journal of the construction work on the new Saint Margaret church which has been printed by the Etruscan Academy at Calosci Editors, 1989. The rich marble mausoleum to the left of the transept by the Sienese workshops and the saint's urn the work of Pietro Berrettini are to be admired. In the altar at the back of the nave on the right is a precious wooden crucifix, originally kept in the Church of St. Francis and the work of an unknown artist from the early 1200's. Margaret prayed before this cross and receive comfort and spiritual guidance. On the right side walls are relics donated in devotion by the Cortonese Knights of Malta. On the left nave is a large chapel in memory of Cortonese who died in war. Behind the church is the bell-tower (1650) and the ancient Franciscan monastery surrounded by a large park.
THE FARNETA ABBEY
The Farneta Abbey is situated at an altitude of 317 m. in the Chiucio hills of the Valdichiana, on the road between Cortona and Foiano. It is an ancient abbey, founded by the Benedettini Neri (Benedictine) monks on the site of a Roman temple in commendam to the Cortonese Cardinal, Silvio Passerini, the Bishops Ricci and Vagnucci and to the Ligurian, Dei Carretto. It was then passed on to the Benedettini olivetani monks, who kept it until the suppression of the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo di Lorena, around 1780, when the secular priests (Diocese of Cortona) took over from them. The unusual architectural features of the structure were mainly publicised from 1937 onwards, thanks to the efforts of Don Sante Felici, parish abbot of Farneta. The crypt, which was uncovered and restored through the efforts of Don Sante, is made up of three cells with barrel and cross vaults, supported by various columns of Roman origin. The first column, rose-coloured granite, comes from Assuan in southern Egypt and has Roman capitals with various figures carved on it, amongst which there is achelòo (a human figure with horns). In the centre there is a kind "tempietto" (little temple) with four columns, two of oriental marble, one of Ionic travertine (with 16 flutes) and the other of ash-coloured oriental granite. The Roman funerary stele, between the central and northwest cells, is also interesting and bears the inscription "Quartafiglia di Erennio Pompeo Liberto" (Erennio Pompeo Liberto's fourth-daughter). The column of the third cell, a classic travertine base, like the first, is made of oriental marble and has a sandstone, cube-shaped capital, and is engraved on the four sides with a cross and flowers. One of the bells was re-cast in 1724, and the other, by Mugnai Filippo di Montevarchi, dates from 1827. An "antiquarium" adjoins the church and houses palaeontological and archaeological exhibits.
BRAMASOLE - FRANCES MAYES'S HOUSE
Bramasole, the 200-years-old Tuscan farmhouse Frances Mayes bought in Cortona, has captured the imagination of readers worldwide ever since Mayes wrote "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Bella Tuscany". When she first fell in love with the place, Frances Mayes didn't know the property's history. A former resident helped her learn some of the stories related to her house. Italian farmers down the road think of it as "new" since their homes are a thousand years old. Abandoned thirty years, the property needed a great deal of work. Inside, as she cleared away decades of neglect and whitewash, Frances discovered a fresco in the dinning room. It depicts a lovely scene of Lake Trasimeno surrounded by Italy's Apennine Mountains. Outside, she pulled brambles away from an old vineyard. Perhaps Bramasole would produce a grape harvest again.
Looking over the valley, from her vantage point at Bramasole, Frances and her guests see an ever-changing light. Hues that alternate from blue, to rose, to golden blanket the landscape. Under the Tuscan sun, sunflowers bloom for six weeks. At night, during August, Italy celebrates San Lorenzo, the night of the shooting stars. Using her kitchen, which opens to the outside, Frances always has a party that night. It promotes a sense of well-being, she says, to have dinner "al fresco". With the Tuscan sun shining by day, and shooting stars entertaining by night, who could disagree that, in Italy, Frances Mayes has found her own sense of well-being?
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