Diocesan Museum of Cortona Serena Nocentini “Cortona, mother of Troy and grandmother of Rome” as the ancient proverb goes. Virgil wrote in the Aeneid (iii:167, vii:209) that the city was founded by the hero Dardanus, epic son of Jupiter and Electra, who, having lost his helmet during a fight in the Val di Chiana, consulted an oracle. The response left no room for interpretation: Mother Earth had hidden it in her womb because she wanted a turreted and impregnable city – just like the helmet – to rise in that place. It was thus that, obeying destiny, Dardanus built the walls of the new city. Then, according to the myth, he went to Asia where his descendants founded Troy. This is the legend. However, Cortona is a town of very ancient origins and its historiography has a rich variety of often conflicting information. Today we tend to accept the theory that it was originally an Umbrian center developed by the Etruscans who, around the 8th-7th century B.C., transformed it into one of the most powerful Etrurian lucumonies, together with Arezzo and Perugia. Towards the end of the 4th century B.C., it became a Roman colony. Although information about Cortona in the Imperial Age is limited, it is known that it was a rich and flourishing Roman municipium. Illustrious evidence of this period is the distinguished marble sarcophagus kept in the Diocesan Museum. It is not altogether certain that Cortona was a diocese in the early Christian era. In the provinces of the Roman Empire, where the Christian religion was by then established, the bishop’s sees had multiplied, to the point that the multitude of bishops that had been created (many of whom receiving extremely small dioceses) seemed excessive. It was therefore thought necessary to specifically prohibit the appointment of additional episcopal offices, except in places that were more populated and deserving of this honor. Some historical museo diocesano di cortona
sources claim that Cortona was already a diocese in the early Christian period, with Saint Vincent Martyr as its first bishop. The diocese had a couple of centuries of life before disappearing with the Gothic domination in 450 A.D., or during the Lombard invasion, in the last quarter of the 6th century. In the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, the most authoritative source of the 5th century with regard to the early saints and martyrs, Vincent is recorded as having been martyred during the Diocletian persecution (303-305 AD). Instead, there are those who maintain that Cortona was without a bishop until the time of John xxii (1316-1334) a version that perhaps could reinforce the idea that Cortona was, for some centuries, no longer considered an autonomous city. In ancient parchment documents, in fact, Cortona is said to be in “Comitatu Aretino,” from which it may be deduced that it did not have its own contado and therefore was no longer considered to have the rank of a city, since – as Alciato noted in his Commentari – one of a city’s main attributes was to have a contado, i.e., a territory of some size that was under the jurisdiction of a count. The complete rebirth of the noble town coincided – as for most urban centers of our country – with the assertion, in medieval times, of the regional political and economic dominance of the free comuni. In 1325 Pope John xxii thus wanted to elevate Cortona to the rank of city. With this honor restored to it, Cortona could have a bishopric, with Ubertini Ranieri, brother of Buoso, the bishop of Arezzo, appointed as bishop. Supporters of this view argue that if Cortona indeed had been a bishopric in the past, the Pope would have dealt with the restoration and not with a new institution in his bull. The territory assigned to the diocese coincided with that of city, subdivided into ten parishes, with six being detached from Arezzo. Historians define the pope’s decision as a political rather than spiritual act since, in this way, John xxii made sure of the favor of Cortona and penalized Tarlati, the Count Bishop of Arezzo.