The Town of Cortona

Wind swept, stone struck, ringed walls. Flat plain below with patch work of yellow fields. It’s the feast of Corpus Christi and a Eucharistic procession flows through the ancient hill town. Plaster is missing in patches revealing 800 year old stonework. Every glance is a Fantasy photo, a James Bond movie setting. The sun is hot, my calves are burning on the steep inclines, but a cool wind sweeps down through the cave-like alleys to bring refreshment. Shop keepers sit at their small doorways, like hobbits. The cafe’s line their table and chairs out along the stone walls, and cover them with cloth, silver, and class wear. Leather and craft shops brings their rack out in the cobbled streets. Everything is fine, solid and lasting in this stone fantasy-town.

June 18, 2017