Cortona

Cortona holds a ridge some five hundred metres up with the Valdichiana plain and Lake Trasimeno spread below, and its streets run steeply enough that many are stairs. It was one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan league, and the museum holds the Cortona lamp, a bronze chandelier of the fourth century BC weighing nearly sixty kilos, cast with sixteen figures around its rim, whose purpose and workshop are still argued over. Tombs called meloni sit on the plain below. Luca Signorelli and Pietro da Cortona were born here. The book Under the Tuscan Sun made the town internationally known in the 1990s.

What you actually see

• The Etruscan lamp - a 60-kilo bronze chandelier of the fourth century BC.
• The ridge position - the Valdichiana and Lake Trasimeno spread below.
• The Diocesan museum - Fra Angelico's Annunciation and Signorelli works.
• The tombs below - Etruscan tumuli on the plain outside town.

When to go

April to October; summer weekends and the Tuscan Sun festival crowd the small centre. Winter is quiet with many places closed.

Honest expectations

The town is very steep, with stepped streets and hard walking. Parking is outside the walls with a climb in. Prices reflect its fame.

Nearby

Lake Trasimeno lies east in Umbria; Arezzo is north.