CORTONA, a town and episcopal see of Italy, in the province of Arezzo, 18m. S. by E. from the town of Arezzo by rail. Pop. 3,447 (town), 30,222 (commune). The highest point of Cortona, a mediaeval castle (Fortezza), is 2,13oft. above sea level on a hill commanding a splendid view. It is surrounded by fairly well-preserved Etruscan walls constructed of parallelepi pedal blocks of limestone, finely jointed and arranged in regular courses which vary in size in different parts. Near the north-west angle some of the blocks are 7 to 82ft. long and 21ft. high. Within the town are various Etruscan walls in good masonry, of uncer tain nature, under modern buildings and a concrete ruin called the "Bagni di Bacco." A reservoir about 6oft. square is the only building of Roman date now visible. The museum of the Acca demia Etrusca (a learned body founded by Ridolfino Venuti in 1726), in the Palazzo Pretorio, contains a magnificent bronze lamp with 16 lights, of remarkably fine workmanship. The ca thedral, originally a Tuscan Romanesque building of the Ilth 12th centuries, is now a fine Renaissance basilica restored in the 18th century, containing some paintings by Luca Signorelli, a native of the place. Opposite is the baptistery, with three fine pictures by Fra Angelico. Other works by Signorelli are to be seen elsewhere in the town, especially in S. Domenico. Pietro Berettini (Pietro da Cortona, 1596-1669) is hardly represented here at all. Below the town is the massive tomb chamber (origin ally subterranean, but now lacking the mound of the earth which covered it) known as the Grotta di Pitagora (grotto of Pythago ras). To the east is the church of S. Maria del Calcinaio, by Francesco di Giorgio Martini of Siena, with fine stained glass win dows. Cortona appears in history as one of the strongholds of the Etruscan power; but in Roman times it is hardly mentioned. See G. Mancini, Cortona (Bergamo, Arti Grafiche, 19o9), well illustrated; A. Neppi Modona, Cortona (Florence, 1925).