WHERE TUSCANY & UMBRIA MEET

27 February – 5 March 2010 with Mary Hawkins

PLEASE NOTE: Coaches cannot approach the centres of the Italian hill towns, so there is a certain amount of walking on this tour.

IN THE Middle Ages and the period we call the Renaissance, this part of Central Italy was one of the most disputed, as powerful states battled to extend their territories. Lovely hill towns, many well preserved, have thick surrounding fortification walls, a reminder of the turbulent past. It is an area characterised by wooded valleys and streams, and CORTONA, where we will stay, overlooks Lake Trasimeno, the fourth largest lake in Italy.

The surviving art of this area derives from the Etruscan period onwards. CORTONA, in Tuscany, but close to the Umbrian border, is built on the slopes of a hillside and has well preserved medieval streets and churches, A superb Renaissance church standing below the town is Santa Maria del Calcinaio, built to a Latin cross plan with an octagonal cupola, decorated inside with simple black and white marble. Renaissance palaces line the main street, the Via Nazionale. Cortona has two superb museums: the newly refurbished Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca, which contains a sperb collection of Etruscan items as well as a fascinating eclectic assortment of pieces bequeathed by local citizens. The Musea Diocesano contains two altarpieces by Lucca Signorelli and drawings by the futurist, Severini, for the mosaics of the Stations of the Cross which line the Via Santa Margherita.
We shall visit ASSISI, whose most important monument is the church of San Francesco, the centre of pilgrimage for those wishing to venerate the saint’s tomb and admire the frescoes in the Lower and Upper Chrurches, many by Giotto, Cimabue and other remarkable artists of the 14th century. This medieval hill town retains its old public buildings including the Palazzo dei Priori (constructed opposite a Roman Temple to Minerva), the Cathedral and Santa Chiara, which contains the crucifix which spoke to Saint Francis, and is the resting place of Saint Clare. Below the town is Santa Maria degli Angeli, a huge late Renaissance church, built over the Capella della Porziuncola, the simple rustic hut which was the first house of the Franciscan Order. Another chapel contains the cell where Saint Francis died.

A short journey away lies the Etruscan city of PERUGIA, capital of Umbria, its medieval centre high above the more recent town buildings. [Note: we can use the impressive escalators which rise through the underground Etruscan chambers to reach the town centre.] Set between the Cathedral and the town hall is Nicola Pisano’s impressive 13th century Fontana Maggiore, and nearby is the Collegio del Cambio, decorated by Perugino in the late 15th century, and still functioning as a charitable institution. The huge National Gallery of Umbria contains the most important surviving paintings (many of them altarpieces) from local churches.

AREZZO in Tuscany, built on a low hillside, is rich in artistic masterpieces, the most notable being the wonderful series of frescoes of the Story of the True Cross, painted by Piero della Francesca in the choir of San Francesco. Another of his works is in the Cathedral, while the polyptych on the high altar of the Pieve di Santa Maria (the parish church) by Piero Lorenzetti is still in the place for which it was commissioned in 1320. The church façade is a superbly organised arrangement of tiers of colonnades. San Domenico has walls covered with 14th century frescoes. An interesting example of secular architecture and art is the house built and decorated by Giorgio Vasari for himself, in which he demonstrated his interest in the classics, and his tribute to Michelangelo.

And then we shall have a PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA DAY, visiting the hilltop village of Monterchi to see his Madonna del Parto, and then on to Borgo San Sepolcro, his birthplace, to see other works and particularly the Resurrection, described by Aldous Huxley as ‘the best picture in the world’, and mercifully saved from Allied bombing in World War II, thanks to a remarkable coincidence.

Our stay on the Tuscan/ Umbrian border, therefore, will be spent enjoying the beautiful countryside and attractive towns, the food and wine of the region and looking at and discussing the range of art and architectural treasures for which central Italy is so reknowned.