Cortona

Cortona is another ancient, walled Tuscan city that merits the attention of travelers. Its grey and ochre coloured buildings cascade down a flank of Monte Sant'Egidio in southern Tuscany close to the western border of Umbria, offering astounding views of the broad Val di Chiana, the Siena Mountains to the west, and the blue expanse of Lake Trasimeno to the south. Around the city, on terraced mountain slopes, ranks of silver-green olive trees are rooted in a stony soil, where Cortonese farmers have harvested them for centuries. Sections of Cortona's formidable walls, built by the Etruscans with huge quadrangular boulders, still stand today, and archaeologists have found Etruscan tombs in the valley below the town. A beautiful - and valuable - collection of Etruscan artifacts, including a bronze lamp dating from the 5th century BC, is now on display in Cortona's Museo dell'Accademia (Palazzo Casali). Things to see Tabula Cortonensis An ancient Etruscan artifact found in the city of Cortona in 1992.