Cortona

Tucked into the top of a steep hillside, Cortona is the kind of place that inspires people like Frances Mayes to abandon their lives in the states in search of la dolce vita.

We met a very sweet girl from Kansas who came here to study architecture for three months 6 years ago and hasn't left. She met her husband, a talented Cortona jewelry designer, and now helps him run his shop, DelBrenna.




I came away with a small souvenir from here. Very reasonable, couldn't resist...

We ate lunch at this charming Osteria, a cellar restaurant from the 1600s.




I peeked my head into the open shop door of a little old man who was staining a piece of furniture. He stopped what he was doing and eagerly began talking to us in Italian. We didn't understand a word, but he seemed pleased that I was interested in his work and invited us up to his apartment above.



It turns out, he is a fresco painter, and has been painting these magnificent frescoes all his life. Frescoes are a part of Cortona's heritage, as some of the most important ones in Rome and Florence were painted by Cortona artists. Can you imagine every inch of the walls in your home being covered in these? I've been thinking a lot about this man since we left. What a life he must have lived!