Now that spring is literally around the corner, time to dust up your light jackets and respond to the call of the wild. For Italians the answer can only be one: a "gita fuori porta". This centuries old tradition quite literally mean "small trip outside the gate", as back before mass motorization the farthest you could go on a day trip was close to your hometown. Now that the range of our escapades has increased vastly, you're spoilt for choice. Allow us to help you with a suggestion, one of the towns that I enjoyed the most back in the day, when I was younger and loved to roam the back roads of Tuscany. Not only this town is very ancient but has got many art treasures hidden in plain sight, an amazing atmosphere and even a place that will do a lot of good to your soul. That's why this week, What's Up Tuscany will bring you to Cortona, the town made famous by the novel "Under a Tuscan sun" that has so much more to offer than a bunch of selfies. If you listen to the entire episode you will learn about the millennia-long history of this town, how it was razed several times in the past and rebuilt time and time again. You will know about the little fortress that has dominated the valley for many centuries, in several different forms. We will bring you to several fascinating churches that are all at the same time beautiful and quite weird. If you're more into spirituality, a few miles from Cortona there is an ancient monastery where Saint Francis of Assisi stayed for many years and wrote his spiritual testament. To top it off, we will tell you the many other things you can do in town, the best restaurant, the local specialties you must try and much, much more. This part of Tuscany is absolutely spectacular and Cortona is one of my favourite towns ever. If you give it a chance, it will charm you as well. Email: [email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/larno.it Twitter: @arno_it / @WhatsupTuscany LINKS TO SOURCES (ITALIAN ONLY) https://www.italyyoudontexpect.com/cortona-cose-da-vedere/ https://www.visittuscany.com/it/attrazioni/la-fortezza-del-girifalco/ https://www.turiscortona.it/cosa-visitare/chiese/eremo-le-celle https://www.cortonamia.com/en/history-of-cortona/ BACKGROUND MUSIC Pipe Choir - Bom Bom Breakthrough (Instrumental) Incompetech - Leopard Print Elevator Pipe Choir - A Slave to Nothing (Instrumental) Wayne John Bradley - Summercycle Wayne John Bradley - Pick you up Pipe Choir - A Midnight on Jaquay (Instrumental) Aerocity - Love Lost Wayne John Bradley - Blues Rock Original Instrumental All released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/pipe-choir-bom-bom-breakthrough-creative-commons-instrumental https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500077 https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/pipe-choir-a-slave-to-nothing-instrumental https://soundcloud.com/ayneohnradley/summercycle-original-indie-style-instrumental-creative-commons https://soundcloud.com/ayneohnradley/pick-you-up-slow-poprock-style-instrumental-creative-commons https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/pipechoir-a-midnight-on-jaquay-instrumental https://soundcloud.com/argofox/aerocity-love-lost https://soundcloud.com/ayneohnradley/blues-rock-original-instrumentalcreative-commons http://www.pipechoir.com/