CORTONA Cortona-Washington Exchange 2017/2018
MAP OF Our school CORTONA
MAJOR ATTRACTIONS OF OUR TOWN
PIAZZA DELLA REPUBBLICA This is our Town Hall, it was built during the Medieval period. Around the square there are also typical Tuscan shops like a wine shop, a greengrocer,a supermarket and a jewellery shop
TEATRO SIGNORELLI This is our theatre, inside take place plays, musicals, dance recitals and also movies
THE MOST WELL-KNOWN MUSEUM: MAEC MAEC, or Museum of the Etruscan Academy of Cortona, collects the collections of discovered objects belonging to this ancient civilization and others objects like paintings relating to the Middle Age
This is the biggest room, called Sala del Biscione, because the Visconti insignia was standing there Inside this room, there are the most famous Etruscan collections (of the old members of the Accademia Etrusca)
This is one of the most beautiful Etruscan objects: The Etruscan Chandelier. In correspondence of the sixteen externs of this chandelier, there were candles to illuminate the rooms. In the center there is the Gorgone", a mythological figure with serpents like hair.
Another important piece is the Tabula Cortonensis. This is the second longest written evidence of the Etruscan civilization after the Zagreb Mummy. It is a contract of sale signed by two Etruscan traders. Seven out of eight parties were found, but the missing one is not very important
Inside the building of the museum, there is our library, It has really a lot of medieval books of Cortona, some of them are from 1300 and before! It also has books of our age, like every library
MUSEO DIOCESANO
The Diocesan Museum of Cortona is located in the Cathedral Square, there are many works of art from the churches of the territory. This is the painting most admired by tourists: the Annunciation of Beato Angelico.
FORTEZZA MEDICEA
This is our medieval fortress: it is called Medicea because it was built during the Cosimo I De Medici lordship. It is also known as Fortezza del Girifalco because, according to a legend, there were a lot of falcons during the Middle Age. It is on the summit of Cortona, so the Cortonesi could see all the Val di Chiana from the top of the fortress
The main churches of our town
SANTA MARIA NUOVA This church was built during XVI century by the famous tuscan architect Giorgio Vasari. It has a Greek cross shape with a central dome.
SANTA MARGHERITA The Church stands on top of the hill of Cortona. Santa Margherita is the patron saint of the city. She died here and her body is in the church in a golden sarcophagus
DUOMO The Cortona s Cathedral is the most important medieval church with some Roman features
SAN DOMENICO It was built during the 14th century, but in 1557 it was completely restored. At the end of the nave there is a fresco accounting the Madonna col Bambino tra I Santi Domenico e Pietro martire of Beato Angelico
SAN FRANCESCO Inside of this church there is fragment of the Holy Cross taken from Constantinople to Cortona by Friar Elijah, whom St. Francis nominated as his "mother" and "father" for the others Christian brothers, successor to the leadership of the Franciscan Friars
LE CELLE Now it is the Cappuccini friars monastery. It was here where San Francesco from Assisi was staying during his journeys between Assisi and Siena or between La Verna and Siena. And since 1537 the Franciscan Cappuccini friars live here stably.
CORTONA AND ITS FOLKLORE
LA GIOSTRA DELL ARCHIDADO This tournament was born in the Middle Ages. Since 1994, the districts of Cortona have begun to challenge in the crossbow to recall the wedding celebrations of two young nobleman, Francesco Casali and Antonia Salimbeni. During this Giostra (who takes place in June) there are also exhibitions of the Historical Group of the city of Cortona.
HISTORICAL GROUP OF THE CITY OF CORTONA The Group is made up of musicians (playing drums and trumpets) and flag throwers
INITIATIVES OF OUR TOWN
CORTONA ON THE MOVE Cortona On The Move is the international festival of photography that, starting from the privileged position of the secular artistic and cultural tradition of the ancient Tuscan hills, looks around the world in search of new contemporary visions.
COTM 2017 The festival hosts 16 photographic exhibitions in precious historic buildings, inaccessible and abandoned, which are finally reopened. This festival has become a reference not only for proofessional photographers but also for a vast national and international audience.
The exbition of the photographer Luis Cobelo The exibition of the photographer Daniel Castro Garcia The exibition of Pete Souza
THE TUSCAN SUN FESTIVAL Since 2003, the city of Cortona has the honor to host the Tuscan Sun Festival, an annual event of classical music and art of great prestige and success at international level.
So Cortona has hosted a lot of celebrities like Robert Redford, Sofia Loren, Anthony Hopkins, Sting, Colin Firth and many others
But also famous musicans and dancers like the pianist Lang Lang,the violinist André Rieu and Joshua Bell, Antonio Pappano e Stéphane Denève with the Royal Opera House Orchestra of London or the dancers Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky, partners in dance and life
MIX FESTIVAL Unluckily, now the Tuscan San Festival is no more since 2012, but it s been repleced by The Mix Festival, a respectable festival for music and literature
During this few last years, we hosted some famous musicans,dancers and writers, for example Eleonora Abbagato, Nicola Piovani (Oscar for the soundtrack of La vita è bella), Daniel Pennac and, of course, our Lorenzo Jovanotti
HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS PRESENTATION!