Cortona and Monte San Savino are ideal destinations for a day in Valdichiana. Approximately 30 kilometers away from each other, the two small villages are able to give their visitors a route dedicated to art and good food, as Tuscan tradition.
Cortona, ancient Etruscan town, keeps track of the historic past between the storylines of its urban fabric between the monumental buildings and the rich heritage of art and culture that characterizes it. Walking through the old town, formed as it is today in far 13th century are also worth visiting:
- the Palazzo Comunale in Piazza della Repubblica, great testimony of medieval Cortona. It was modified and extended in the 16th century, it's equipped with a bell tower still visible;
- the Chiesa di San Francesco, built in the middle of the 13th century in honor of the Friar of Assisi for his long stays in town, from the architectural form in typical Franciscan style. Inside it houses some objects of the saint such as the cassock, the Evangelary and a pillow.
The city also has two interesting museums: the Diocesan Museum, which houses masterpieces by Pietro Lorenzetti, Beato Angelico and Luca Signorelli and the MAEC, Museum of the Etruscan Academy and of the city of Cortona which brings together the ancient eighteenth-century collections of the Etruscan Academy as the Etruscan chandelier, the Egyptian section and the historic library.
Cortona is now considered an international destination after becoming the subject of the best selling book "Under the Tuscan Sun" of the American writer Frances Mayes and then set of the film based on the book.
In the shops and pubs in the city centre you can buy many products of handicrafts and sample the local cuisine. In the area are produced excellent wines such as Cortona Syrah DOC made with a minimum of 85% grapes syrah.
Along the Provincial Road 26, after about 30 minutes you can reach Monte San Savino. A place where you can breathe fresh air and admire the breathtaking views that the area offers. The country, which belongs to the Borghi più Belli d’Italia, is the land of the great Renaissance sculptor Andrea Contucci said Sansovino. The historic center houses the Palazzo di Monte which was the Di Monte family's private residence, today it is known as Palazzo Comunale; worth a visit for the presence inside of an interesting gallery of portraits of illustrious personages of Monte San Savino.
At 6 km from the village, finally, in Gargonza is an old medieval fortified castle, which today has been readapted in accommodation by Roberto Guicciardini Corsi Salviati.
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