Cortona (20 minutes from Vagli)
Our owners agree that Cortona is their favorite place to visit for people-watching, strolling through the narrow medieval streets, enjoying a morning cappuccino overlooking one of the two large piazza’s or an aperitivo at one of the many wine bars, there are art shops, leather goods and countless restaurants and trattorias serving the most mouthwatering Tuscan home-cooked food.

Originally an Umbrian city, it was conquered and enlarged by the Etruscans, who called it Curtun. During the 600s BC, it joined the Etruscan League. Cortona eventually became a Roman colony under the name Corito. In the final stages of the Gothic War (535–554 AC), Cortona was ransacked and destroyed. It then became a Ghibellinian city state in the 13th century, with its own currency. From 1325 to 1409 the Ranieri-Casali family successfully ruled the town. After being conquered by Ladislaus of Naples in 1409, Cortona was sold to the Medici in 1411. In 1737, the senior branch of the Medici line went extinct and Cortona came under the authority of the House of Lorraine. Following the Italian Wars of Independence, Tuscany—Cortona included—became part of the Kingdom of Italy.