While Florence and Rome may take the spotlight, Cortona remains one of Tuscany’s best-kept secrets. Perched above the Val di Chiana, this medieval hilltop town seduces not only with cobbled streets and trattorias but also with world-class art.
Until January 11 2026, the historic halls of Palazzo Ferretti host Pablo Picasso’s extraordinary exhibition The Etched Desire. This remarkable show presents the series created between 1930–1937 for Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard. Featuring more than 100 etchings, it is one of the most intricate cycles in Picasso’s oeuvre: classical mythological figures, bullfights, studio scenes, and passionate erotic imagery unfold in a powerful visual narrative. The raw energy of black-and-white lines reveals a world of desire, fear, transformation, and human obsession — experienced in intimate proximity, within the walls of a small Tuscan town.
And when the gallery doors closed behind me, Cortona offered yet another masterpiece: a glass of unforgettable Syrah. Elegant, deep, and multi-layered, this red wine blends the winemaking traditions of Tuscany with the spicy soul of Syrah from the Rhône Valley. Sitting on a terrace overlooking the Tuscan hills, sipping this velvet red after a Picasso exhibition, I realized that in Cortona, art doesn’t end in the museum — it flows into the wine, the landscape, and the very spirit of Tuscany.
My friend Rosella, a wine expert, only laughed when I called her: “Why have you never recommended such divine wine to me?” With two quick phone calls, she simply said: “Go to Tenimenti d’Alessandro.” There, Alessandro himself — the pioneer of Syrah di Cortona and the creator of internationally acclaimed wines — welcomed me for a private cellar tour.
I tasted six wines in sequence: starting with the fresh Bianco and Rosato, followed by the full-bodied Rosso, then the distinctive Fontarca, Bosco, and finally the majestic Migliara. Each sip was accompanied by Tuscan cold cuts, local cheeses, rustic bread, and estate-produced honey.
Those two hours passed as if time itself were following Picasso’s strokes. In Cortona, wine is more than agriculture — it is culture, identity, and hospitality poured into every glass. And when you blend all this with Picasso’s genius, what you experience is not just an art exhibition or a wine tasting, but one of the very best days you can imagine in Tuscany.