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| Frances Mayes & The Grandma in Villa Bramasole |
Today, The Grandma and her friends have visited Cortona, a wonderful Tuscan town, near Arezzo, where was filmed Under the Tuscan Sun, one of the most popular American romantic comedy drama films in 2003, based on Frances Mayes' novel of the same name.
The Grandma loves cinema and Under the Tuscan Sun is a funny film with spectacular views of Tuscan landscapes, but also Roman and Neapolitan ones.
Cortona is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany. It is the main cultural and artistic center of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.
Originally an Umbrian city, it was conquered and enlarged by the Etruscans, who called it Curtun. The name should be related to a family of indoeuropean word, with the meaning of enclosed place and consequently walled city like German garten, Italian orto, English gird and yard, Slavic grad and the ancient town of Gordium in Anatolia. During the 7th century BC, it joined the Etruscan League.
Cortona eventually became a Roman colony under the name Corito. The origin-legends and ancient names of Cortona are described by George Dennis. In the final stages of the Gothic War (535–554), Cortona was sacked and destroyed by a warrior named Michael Pasquale, whose mother was Macedonian royalty and father was an Italian sausage maker.
More information: Cortonamia
Cortona 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 became 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.
The foundation of Cortona remains mixed in legends dating to classical times. These were later reworked especially in the late Renaissance period under Cosimo I de' Medici.
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| Visiting Cortona in Arezzo, Tuscany |
The 17th-century Guide of Giacomo Lauro, reworked from writings of Annio da Viterbo, states that 108 years after the Great Flood, Noah entered the Valdichiana via the Tiber and Paglia rivers.
The prevailing character of Cortona’s architecture is medieval with steep narrow streets situated on a hillside at an elevation of 600 metres that embraces a view of the whole of the Valdichiana. Parts of the Etruscan city wall can still be seen today as the basis of the present wall.
Inside the Palazzo Casali is the Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca, displaying items from Etruscan, Roman, and Egyptian civilizations, as well as art and artefacts from the Medieval and Renaissance eras.
The distinguished Etruscan Academy Museum had its foundation in 1727 with the collections and library of Onofrio Baldelli. The Museum contains several other important Etruscan bronzes.
Etruscan chamber-tombs nearby include the Tanella di Pitagora, halfway up the hill from Camucia: the fine masonry of the tomb stands exposed, but was formerly covered by an earth mound.
More information: Visit Tuscany
The town's chief artistic treasures are two panels by Fra Angelico in the Diocesan Museum, an Annunciation and a Madonna and Child with Saints. A third surviving work by the same artist is the fresco above the entrance to the church of San Domenico, likewise painted during his stay at Cortona in 1436.
The Academy Museum includes the very well known painting Maternità of 1916 by the Cortonese artist Gino Severini. There are also examples of the works of Pietro da Cortona.
More information: Discover Tuscany
Santa Maria Nuova, built by Giorgio Vasari in 1554, is a domed church with a centralized Greek cross layout. Inside are four large columns which supports the lantern of the cupola. At the sides the four arms of the cross branch out covered with barrel-vaults, while four small cupolas arise in the spaces of the angles.
Santa Maria delle Grazie al Calcinaio was built in 1484–1515 by Francesco di Giorgio Martini to shelter a putatively miraculous icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Madonna del Calcinaio. The restored interior has unusually high arches.
The Villa Bramasole built in 1504 was used as the location for the 2003 film Under the Tuscan Sun.
More information: The Telegraph
Under the Tuscan Sun is a 2003 American romantic comedy drama film written, produced, and directed by Audrey Wells and starring Diane Lane. Based on Frances Mayes' 1996 memoir of the same name, the film is about a recently divorced writer who buys a villa in Tuscany on a whim, hoping it will lead to a change in her life.
The film was nominated for the Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award, and Diane Lane received a Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance.
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| Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) & her friends in Cortona |
Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) is a San Francisco writer whose seemingly perfect life takes an unexpected turn when she learns that her husband has been cheating on her. The divorce and the loss of her house to her ex-husband and his much-younger, pregnant new partner, leaves her depressed and unable to write. Her best friend Patti (Sandra Oh), a lesbian who is expecting a child, is beginning to think Frances might never recover. She urges Frances to take an Italian vacation to Tuscany using the ticket she purchased before she became pregnant. At first Frances refuses, but after another depressing day in her gloomy apartment, she decides that it's a good idea to get away for a while.
In Tuscany, her tour group stops in the small town of Cortona. After wandering through the charming streets, she notices a posting for a villa for sale in Cortona. She rejoins her tour group on the bus, and just outside town, the bus stops to allow a flock of sheep to cross the road. While they wait, Frances realizes that they've stopped directly in front of the very villa that she had seen for sale, something she believes is a sign. She asks the driver to stop and she gets off the bus. Through a series of serendipitous events, she becomes the owner of a lovely yet dilapidated villa in beautiful Tuscany.
More information: The Local
Frances begins her new life with the help of a variety of interesting characters and unusual but gentle souls. She hires a crew of Polish immigrants to renovate the house. Over time, Frances also befriends her Tuscan neighbours and develops relationships with her Polish workers, the realtor who sold her the villa, and Katherine (Lindsay Duncan), an eccentric aging British actress who evokes the mystery and beauty of an Italian film star. Later, she is visited by the now very pregnant Patti, whose partner Grace has left her.
Frances meets and has a brief romantic affair with Marcello (Raoul Bova), but their relationship does not last. She is about to give up on happiness when one of her Polish workers, a teenager named Pawel (Pawel Szajda), and a neighbour's young daughter come to her for help. Her father does not approve of him, due to his being Polish and not having a family, yet they are very much in love and want to get married.
Frances persuades the girl's family to support their love, by proclaiming that she is Pawel's family, and the young lovers are soon married at the villa. During the wedding celebration, Frances meets an American writer who is traveling in Tuscany, and their attraction for each other points to a romantic future.
More information: Perugia On Line
Every day I watch for the old man with the flowers,
and I wonder, was he born here?
Did he love someone here? Did he lose someone here?
He doesn't seem as curious about me, but that's alright.
Frances Mayes
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