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Couple more pictures from our hotel balcony on our last day of stay in Chiancaino.56 views
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We visited Cortona today.58 views
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The Church of Santa Margherita in Cortona.59 viewsSaint Margaret of Cortona (1247 – 22 February 1297) was an Italian penitent of the Third Order of St. Francis ("T.O.S.F."). She was born in Laviano, near Perugia, and died in Cortona. She was canonized in 1728. She grew up in a broken family and became more willful and reckless, and her reputation in the town was one not to be envied. At the age of 17 she met a young man and became pregnant. Her lover was murdered and she never got married. This crime shocked Margaret into a life of prayer and penance. She was not accepted by her family. Margaret and her son then went to the Franciscan friars at Cortona, where her son eventually became a friar. She fasted, avoided meat, and subsisted on bread and vegetables.
In 1277, after three years of probation, Saint Margaret joined the Third Order of Saint Francis and chose to live in poverty. Following the example of St. Francis of Assisi, she begged for sustenance and bread. She pursued a life of prayer and penance at Cortona, and there established a hospital for the sick, homeless and impoverished. To secure nurses for the hospital, she instituted a congregation of Tertiary Sisters, known as "le poverelle" (Italian for "the little poor ones"). After her death, the Church of Santa Margherita in Cortona was rebuilt in her honor. Her body is preserved in a silver casket at this church. St. Margaret was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII on 16 May 1728.
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Saint Margaret of Cortona in a silver casket.61 views An oil on canvas painting of her (circa 1758) by Garpare Traversi, hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. In 1938, the Italian composer Licinio Refice wrote his second opera, Margherita da Cortona, based on the life of her.
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Today is our last day in Tuscany region. We will leave our hotel in Chianciano and make our trip to Sorrento to tour the Amalfi Coast area. We will stay in Sorrento for 7 nights. This is the coach we will be in for the ride to Sorrento.62 views
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