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| |  | Amenities of Poggio Sant'Angelo Country House |  |
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Localitą Farneta di Cortona 42, Cortona, 52044
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| | | Facilities within the Property |
 The ground floor of the villa houses a large hall, featuring an open fireplace, period furniture and comfortable sofas, used as a meeting point for our guests and from which the adjoining restaurant may be accessed. Time seems to have stopped here: you can immediately breathe an air of warm and pleasant home atmosphere and re-discover the charm of an old Tuscan villa. Great care for detail was used to enhance the history and the beauty of the house. |
 The cotto floors, the exposed wood-beam ceilings and the large arches separating the reception area from the restaurant are all in typical Tuscan style. The three rooms of the restaurant may sit around their typical solid wood tables up to forty guests. Length and size of the tables may vary so as to be able to accommodate groups of people wishing to dine together. All pieces of furniture of the restaurant are in typically Tuscan "arte povera" style: worth noticing the typical credenza and the portable wine-cellar for white wines. |
 The restaurant serves appropriately revisisted and personalised typical Tuscan dishes prepared from genuine and healthy ingredients. Extra virgin olive-oil, eggs, flour, spices: all ingredients tell us about Tuscany and "Tuscanity". All dishes are suitably accompanied by a large selection of fine Tuscan red and white wines. All your meals in our restaurant will always be filled with cordiality and warmth. |
- Cortona:
Framed by vineyards and olive-groves Cortona is perched up on a steep hill resting on a buttress of Mount Sant'Egidio and looks out over a wide and stunning panorama of the valley. At Cortona's foot lies the broad Valdichiana hedged in at the horizon by the rolling hills of Siena, mountains such as the Cetona and the Amiata and lake Trasimeno. The origins of Cortona are lost in the mists of time. Probably founded by Umbrians, Cortona was, together with Arezzo and Perugia one of the main cities of central Etruria. The town is still surrounded by cyclopean Etruscan walls and evidence of the Etruscan past of the town was found at different sites in the territory: the celebrated Etruscan Lamp and the famous Tabula Cortonensis, found in the surroundings of the town, are today housed in one of the leading, state of the art museums of Italy: The Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca e della Cittą di Cortona. Steep alleys, old houses, monasteries and a real wealth of churches housing precious works of art bear testimony to the medieval and Renaissance past of the town. During medieval and Renaissance times Cortona gave birth and was the destination of a number of saints and artists. Saint Francis travelled to Cortona and here founded in one of the most charming spots of town the Eremo delle Celle. In Cortona lived and died Saint Margaret, whose uncorrupted body is still worshipped in the sanctuary standing at the top of the hill; here were born Friar Elia, first successor of Saint Francis at the head of the Franciscan Order who built in his town the large and magnificent church dedicated to the Saint from Assisi and painters Luca Signorelli and Pietro Berrettini. Important works by Luca Signorelli are on display in the local Museo Diocesano that also houses the famous Annunciazione by Beato Angelico. Amongst Cortona's churches is also one of the most impressive churches of the Italian Renaissance: Santa Maria del Calcinaio, built to plans by Francesco di Giorgio Martini.
Cortona hosts several events amongst which the Fiera del Rame (copperware market _ late April), the Giostra dell'Archidado, a costume cross-bow competition (in May), the Steak Festival (August 15th) and the Antique Fair (late August-early September).
- The Abbey of Farneta:
The Abbey of Farneta, located only 1 and ½ miles away from Poggio Sant'Angelo, is a jewel of the Tuscan romanesque architecture. Probably founded in the 8th century, this benedectine abbey lived its golden period from the 10th century when the church we see today was erected to the 13th century; its slow and inexorable decline started in the 14th century and continued well into the past century. In the 1800s the abbey was suppressed by order of Grand-duke Peter Leopold and the church was completely remodeled: the faēade was torn down, the remaining nave was shortened and part of the monastery was demolished. Today's visitor can hardly imagine what the abbey-complex may have looked like in its days: only the apse and the crypt are left from the original chrurch and yet these are sufficient for us to admire the ancient beauty and the architectural splendour of this monument. Entering the church the visitor will immediately notice the imposing transept and the three apses on the far wall each of which originally had two side-niches unfortunately destroyed in the early 20th century. Further testimony to the magnificent past of the abbey is brought by the crypt, brought to light in the early 1940s and today in excellent conditions of preservation. The crypt is divided into three cells two of which, smaller in size and simpler in appearance, are in the shape of a clover whilst the central one, larger and more complex, is shaped like a four-leave-clover with a cross-vault supported by valuable oriental columns that were probably taken from some rich Roman building thought to have been in the vicinity of the abbey. |
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