What to See in Cortona - Top Sights and Attractions

The Convent de Le Celle is a 13th-century Franciscan Convent located in Le Celle, just outside Cortona, region of Tuscany, Italy. It is also referred to as the Convento delle Celle or Eremo Le Celle.

A small hermitage was erected here in circa 1211 or 1221, and it briefly housed St Francis of Assisi himself in his lifetime. In 1235, Brother Elias of Cortona, Minister general of the Franciscans at the death of the founder, erected a sanctuary, refectory and five monk cells (rooms) of similar size to the one that Francis himself had used. Monks remained at the site for nearly a century, then the monastery was almost abandoned.

The structures passed to the parish and were occupied by the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin monks in 1537, who dedicated the church to the St Michael Archangel. This order was dedicated to a more eremitic lifestyle befitting this rural site. In 1634, the church was rededicated to St Antony of Padua. From 1804 to 1811, the Napoleonic government expelled the monks. They returned later in the 19th century.

The rustic stone buildings nestle in terraces on a mountain-side with a Holly Oak and cypress grove. The main convent is accessed through a stone pedestrian bridge spanning a small spring stream. The church has a few ancient works, but many of the present artwork is modern. The Capuchin order is presently associated with the site, and manages the site as a rustic retreat for visitors interested in prayer and mediation.^[2]

Museum in Cortona, Italy. The Diocesan Museum in Cortona is an art museum in Cortona, Tuscany, Italy. Located on the former site of the local Church of Gesù, it houses works of art by artists such as Fra Angelico, Pietro Lorenzetti, Bartolomeo della Gatta, Luca Signorelli and Sassetta. The oldest item in the museum is a marble Roman sarcophagus, depicting depicts the battle of Dionysus.

A room in the museum is specifically dedicated to the works of Luca Signorelli and his workshop, and emphasizes the bond between Signorelli and his hometown, and correspond to the artist's last years of work, from 1512 to 1523, the year of his death. Ten of the works bear the personal signature of Signorelli, the others are assumed to be from his workshop.

The large tempera on panel depiction of the Lamentation of Christ, which used to be in the church of S. Margaret of Cortona, was called "a rare form of art" by Giorgio Vasari. The predella, on which Girolamo Genga may have also worked displays scenes of the Passion such as of the Last Supper, Agony in the Garden, and the Flagellation of Christ. The Communion of the Apostles, by Signorelli, was painted for the high altar of the Church of Gesù, and has an unusual iconography in which the apostles are gathered around a table at the Last Supper, in a semicircle, standing or kneeling and around the figure of Christ. Only Judas, concealing his 30 pieces of silver faces the viewer, his glance revealing the inner struggle of betrayal. Another work attributed to Signorelli, or his workshop, is the 1519–1520 Assumption of the Virgin from the Cathedral of Cortona.

Other major art in the museum include:

• The Cortona Triptych by Fra Angelico
• Madonna and Child by Niccolò di Segna
• A large cross painted by Pietro Lorenzetti
• Maestà by Pietro Lorenzetti
• Triptych of the Madonna of Humility with Saints by Sassetta
• Assumption by Bartolomeo della Gatta
• Ecstasy of St. Margaret of Cortona by Giuseppe Maria Crespi