At the end of the Val D’Esse, nestled under the hill separating Tuoro and Lake Trasimeno from the countryside below Cortona sits the tiny hamlet of Piazzano. Just inside the border of Umbria, it is surrounded by farmland, olive terraces and woodland. This ancient area may have gotten its name during the famous battle between the Carthaginian general Hannibal and Roman consul Gaius Flaminius in 217 B.C.E. when it is thought the Roman contingent set up a military camp there with a “piazza d’armi” or a parade ground.
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Driving across the flat plain which stretches between Castiglion Fiorentino and Marciano with its fields and sparsely scattered farmhouses, we come across a vast, open stretch of land, eleven hectares in all, home to the Centro Volo Serristori. Here all manner of light aircraft can be seen coming and going, particularly on the weekends – ultralights and small touring planes such as Pipers and Cessna.
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There has probably been a fortress on the hilltop overlooking Cortona since the 5th or 6th century BC, when the original Etruscan walls followed a course which roughly corresponds to the existing perimeter walls of today. However the first historical records describing a ‘strong and beautiful fortress’ date back to 1258 AD. Having been plundered and sacked several times during the wars with Arezzo it was sold to the Florentine Republic in 1411, together with the entire city of Cortona, although reconstruction work only began in 1527.
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The house and lands of Fontelunga have been in Lucia Catani’s family for more than two centuries, with a part of the house itself dating to 1491. From the moment the Catani family purchased the property at the end of the seventeenth century, “every member of my family was born and grew up here”, says Lucia.
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The Piazza collection grew naturally out an emotion: Sebastian and Megan remained astonished by the hollow silence that fell over the piazzas and streets of their town during the worst of the pandemic, so when life began to trickle back into the open air this spring, they realized just how important the social contact of these gathering places is, and the essential vitality it lends to the community. This new collection is based on that idea – the lively conviviality, light-heartedness and sense of belonging that the piazza filled with neighbors and visitors enjoys.
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Since this February, the Etruscan city has featured a new high-speed connection with the large cities of Northern Italy. The “Frecciarossa” train allows one to move between Milan and our train station in three hours and this will make visiting the city’s splendors even easier and more comfortable. The health situation is still in a difficult moment, but the city administration, together with cultural and tourism operators, has prepared a program of events to be held with complete safety in mind. There are also a series of packages that foresee the possibility to “find refuge” together with family members in one of the fine accommodation facilities in the area. Cortona is a small center, with a big heart and with a vast and varied territory – from mountains to gentle hills, down to the valley where some of the most interesting gastronomic wonders of Tuscany are produced. Already, starting this Spring, in accordance with actual health conditions, exhibitions will be prepared, and the first events of the season brought into being. The idea of choosing Cortona for your “safe harbor” away from life in the big cities is beginning to gain ground as a lifestyle choice post-Covid 19. Already a significant number of professional people have decided to spend a part of their time here, as they continue remote working.
read more >Recent Editorials
Lifestyle, Siena, Val D'orcia and Amiata
Kartika Nights
“We have always been passionate about clubs — Gaia tells me full of enthusiasm — as soon as I returned from London where I lived for several years (singing in a rock group, ed.) I fell in love with this place, and with the help of my father Paolo, Alessio, and many other really smart guys, we made this dream come true”. And the dream, now a reality, has conquered hundreds of youngsters who meet at the Kartika tables on weekends to get to know each other, joke in company and fall in love.
Lifestyle, Siena, Val D'orcia and Amiata
Find your balance with Tibetan massage
Aldo expresses himself through the Ku Nye massage, a traditional Tibetan massage that was born more than 3900 years ago in the ancient kingdoms of Tibet. A practice belonging to the ancient Tibetan Medical Tradition, the Sowa Rigpa: a system of natural holistic medicine that, over the centuries, has researched and developed forms of therapeutic treatment for our physical and psychological ailments.
Featured, Lifestyle, Siena, Val D'orcia and Amiata
The emporium for dreamers
“VIAnDANTE – Massimiliano explains – is for explorers, dreamers and the curious who follow a path so as to nourish the body, mind and soul”. We are in the centre of San Quirico d’Orcia, in the middle of the Via Francigena: “We were inspired by the itinerary of Sigeric, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who began the journey in 990 AD and during the journey noted the stages of the route thereby creating the oldest extant record of the Via Francigena”.