The ancient village of Cortona is located about 500 m above sea level close to Mount Sant'Egidio, between the Valdichiana and Tiberina valley. Within its walls there is a number of historic and religious buildings that testify its illustrious past. Today Cortona is a town of 22,000 inhabitants that combines his past a thriving craft tradition, tourism and gastronomy.

At the border between Tuscany and Umbria, was probably founded by the Umbrians but owes its importance to the Etruscans who conquered it in 500 BC before becoming part of the Roman Empire. Around the thirteenth century acquired its municipal autonomy, defended several times with weapons, especially against the nearby city of Perugia and Arezzo. After being subjected to the Signoria in Florence in the fifteenth century, ended up to be absorbed by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the eighteenth century.But the history of the city not only stands for the many battles that have played a leading role but also for being the birthplace of famous people of the cultural, artistic and religious world, including Luca Signorelli, famous Florentine painter who lived between the fifteenth and XVI century and Pietro Berrettini also known as Pietro da Cortona, architect and painter of the greatest interpreters of Baroque culture in Tuscany.