The city of Cortona, located at roughly 500 meters above sea level on the slope of a mountainous area between the Valdichiana and the Tiber Valley, has always been a center of considerable importance
The strategic position of the city, predominantly in the Valdichiana, allowed it to control the various arteries of communication between the cities of Arezzo, Perugia, Siena and the Tiber Valley. It is this characteristic that gives Cortona a central and easily reached position today.
Cortona traces its origins to antiquity as an Etruscan center, as numerous ancient artifacts found in the city and its surroundings attest. At the end of the 4th century B.C.E. Cortona allied itself with Rome in order to obtain citizenship. In 450 it was taken over by the Goths, but it was in the 12th century that Cortona began its development and became a commune famous for its arts and crafts. The city became a Ghibelline diocese in 1325 and then a lordship with the family of Ranieri Casali which remained in power until 1409. Cortona was sold to Florence in 1411 and, after the siege of Clement the Seventh and Charles the Fifth, the city was tied to the fortunes of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The city conserves its characteristics from the past, allowing visitors to see and discover the various vestiges of its history.
The Sant’Agostino complex , located in the historic center allows convention visitors to take advantage of their breaks from work to visit the city with its municipal palace in Piazza Della Repubblica, the Via Nazionale, the Signorelli Theater, Palazzo Casali and its surroundings. A pleasant walk might take one to the Hermitage of Le Celle or the Church of Santa Maria Delle Grazie al Calcinaio. It would be reductive make a list of sights to see, as every corner of the city is worthy of a visit.