Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and Fiumicino Airport (€18.50, 3½ to 4¼ hours), leaving at 7am every day except
Sunday. All buses leave from the bus station off Via G Marconi, near the Porta Fiorentina;
purchase tickets at the Bar Autostazione.
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
A ZTL applies within the city walls; you'll find free parking just outside.
TRAIN
Umbria Mobilità
(
www.umbriamobilita.it
)
operates a Ferroviaria e Interscambio FS (train) ser-
vice between Sansepolcro and Perugia (€4.60, two hours, seven daily Monday to
Saturday, three on Sunday).
TOP OF CHAPTER
Cortona
POP 22,487
Rooms with a view are the rule rather than the exception in this spectacularly sited hilltop
town. In the late 14th century Fra' Angelico lived and worked here, and fellow artists
Luca Signorelli and Pietro da Cortona were both born within the walls - all are represen-
ted in the Museo Diocesano's collection. More recently, the town featured in
Under the
Tuscan Sun,
the soap-in-the-sun book and subsequent film recounting author Frances
Mayes' experience in restoring a villa and forging a new life here.
Sights
Brooding over lopsided Piazza della Repubblica is the
Palazzo Comunale
, built in the 13th
century. To the northwest is attractive
Piazza Signorelli
and, on its west side, the 13th-cen-
tury
Palazzo Casali
, whose rather plain facade was added in the 17th century.
A combined ticket (adult/child €13/9) gives entry to the Museo Diocesano and the
Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca.
Museo Diocesano
(Piazza del Duomo 1; adult/child €5/3, audioguide €3; 10am-7pm Tue-Sun Apr-Oct, to 5pm Tue-Sun
Nov-Mar)
Little is left of the original Romanesque character of Cortona's
duomo,
which is
situated northwest of Piazza Signorelli and has been rebuilt several times in a less-than-fe-
licitous fashion. Fortunately, its wonderful artworks have been saved and are on display in
MUSEUM
