Pienza

Pienza is the little Tuscan hill town that Renaissance thinking built: in barely four years a medieval village called Corsignano was rebuilt as the first applied essay in ideal urban planning, crowned by a cathedral square that has hardly changed since. Around it unfolds the celebrated landscape of the Val d’Orcia, all winding roads, cypress rows and honey-coloured fields.

Why visit

UNESCO lists Pienza’s historic centre as a landmark in the history of city planning, and the town delivers that significance in a walkable, human-sized package: one perfect square, one luminous cathedral, one papal palace with a garden floating above the valley. Unlike larger Tuscan cities, Pienza can be absorbed in a day, yet few places reward lingering more. Food lovers come for the town’s famous pecorino cheese and the olive oils and wines of the surrounding hills; photographers come for the views from the walls, which look exactly like the backdrops of a hundred films; romantics come for the lane names along the ramparts. It is also an ideal base for exploring the Val d’Orcia, with Montepulciano and Montalcino each a short drive away.

Character and history

The town’s story turns on one man. Enea Silvio Piccolomini, born in Corsignano in 1405, became Pope Pius II in 1458 and decided to transform his humble birthplace into a model residence worthy of a humanist pope. In 1459 he commissioned the architect Bernardo Rossellino, a follower of Leon Battista Alberti, who applied Alberti’s new principles of proportion and perspective to an entire town: a monumental square framed by cathedral, papal palace, bishop’s palace and town hall, a straight main street — today’s Corso Rossellino — rebuilt walls, and even a quarter of modest new houses for local families. The project comprised roughly forty public and private buildings and was largely complete by the pope’s death in 1464. The result, UNESCO notes, was the first application of the Renaissance humanist concept of urban design, a prototype that influenced town planning across Italy and beyond.

What to see

Everything radiates from Piazza Pio II, the trapezoidal square that anchors the whole composition. On its longest side stands the Pienza Cathedral (Santa Maria Assunta), a fascinating hybrid whose facade is pure Renaissance while its raised interior keeps a late-Gothic hall plan. Beside it rises the Palazzo Piccolomini, the pope’s summer residence, where the Hanging Garden of Palazzo Piccolomini layers loggias above loggias and opens onto one of the most celebrated views in Tuscany, down across the Val d’Orcia to Mount Amiata. Opposite, the Palazzo Borgia (Bishop’s Palace) — funded by the future Pope Alexander VI — now contains the Diocesan Museum of Pienza with its collection of Sienese painting and sacred vestments. A short walk brings you to the Church of San Giovanni Battista (Crypt and Labyrinth), a medieval church whose atmospheric crypt was woven into the Pienza Città di Luce visitor circuit.

Don’t miss the Corso Rossellino, the Renaissance main street lined with palazzi and artisan shops, which leads past the Church of San Francesco (Pienza) with its surviving Sienese-school frescoes. Just outside the walls stands the Pieve di Corsignano, a sculptural Romanesque parish church where Pius II himself was baptized. The Walls and Gates of Pienza follow the hilltop’s edge, and along them runs the Via dell’Amore and the Romantic Streets with panoramic walk — lanes named for love, dawn and kiss. Look too for the Well of the Dogs (Pozzo dei Cani) on the square, the Palazzo Comunale (Town Hall Loggia) with its open arcades, and the Palazzo Ammannati and the Case Nuove quarter, remnants of the pope’s social vision.

How to experience

Walk the ring of ramparts late in the afternoon, when the Val d’Orcia turns gold and the romantic lanes are quiet. Taste pecorino di Pienza in the shops along Corso Rossellino — aged, aged in walnut leaves, aged in ashes — and book a lunch in the countryside with a view. The town makes an excellent base for the Val d’Orcia driving loop through San Quirico d’Orcia, Bagno Vignoni and the abbey country, or for cycling routes such as the lane towards Montepulciano. Inside the palazzo, the tour continues into the “secret rooms” beneath the state floors; combined tickets with the bishop’s palace museums are usually offered.

Practical planning

Pienza lies about 55 kilometres southeast of Siena by road, and driving is the practical option; car parks sit just outside the walls at the town’s edge. Spring and autumn bring the best light and the truffle and cheese fairs; summer is busy at midday and glorious in the evening. Comfortable shoes are essential — the lanes are steep and cobbled — and note that the cathedral’s raising over its substructure has produced gentle slopes inside. Opening times for the palazzo, cathedral and museums vary with the season and liturgical calendar, so verify on the official sites before visiting. Half a day covers the centre, but a full day with the countryside and a long lunch is the wiser allocation.

Nearby places

• Montepulciano — Renaissance hill town and Vino Nobile country, half an hour north.
• Montalcino — home of Brunello, west across the Orcia valley.
• San Quirico d’Orcia — quiet Val d’Orcia town with famous cypress vistas nearby.
• Bagno Vignoni — medieval village built around a steaming thermal pool.
• Val d’Orcia — the UNESCO-listed cultural landscape that surrounds Pienza.
• Crete Senesi — the sculpted clay hills between here and Siena.