Under The Tuscan Sun

Under The Tuscan Sun

One town we had not been to in all our trips to Italy was Cortona, the town made famous by Francis Mayes in her book made into a movie called Under the Tuscan Sun.  Part of the birthday trip was to visit this hilltop town.  We have been to several small hilltop towns, and this might be the ‘hilliest’.  There is one street that is relatively flat, and the locals even call it the flat street.

All of the streets are narrow and one-way and the alleys have steps.  All are good for cardio workouts and also for the eye.

Some of the buildings in Cortona are really ancient like below.  The ones with the wooden braces holding up the upper floors are the oldest and are preserved to show the architecture of a thousand years ago.

We had a walking tour of Cortona with an excellent guide.  She (Serena Ricci) gave us the history by explaining it through what life was like in Italy over the years including World War II and after. 

It was great getting a wide view of how culture and religion ‘evolved’ over the centuries.  For instance, the modern Italian woman is very new (last 30-40 years).  Before then, once married, women were expected to stay home, cook, raise children, wear head scarfs, cover-up, and be accompanied by a man-relative when in public.  It’s taken a long time baby!

Medicine has come a long way too.  In Medieval times, the population of Italy, France, and other countries were drastically reduced by the Black Plague.  It was a very gruesome time to live.  Between 30-60% of the population fell victim to the plague and died.  People were very superstitious and they came to believe that the dead needed to leave through a separate door.  Serena explained how the house below had two doors, one now altered into a window.  In it’s day as a door, it was called Death’s Door.  The superstition was that if the dead used the door the living used, the living would fall to the plague too.  Thus, they had a second and separate door.  I guess when you are loosing half the population to a mysterious disease, you can believe in a lot of things no matter how bizarre.

Thanks to science and medicine, the plague is a thing of history.  

We got to enjoy a healthy and pretty Cortona.

Our favorite Cortona restaurant, La Teatro Ristorante, was located off the main drag, a common occurrence for the places we like.  It too attracts you by it’s beauty.

It’s rather elegant as are the ladies in the picture, but not expensive.

We had a good time Under the Tuscan Sun.

Roberto