| Pienza owes its beauty and fame to Enea Silvio Piccolomini born in Corsignano on 18 October 1405 and elevated to Pope in 1458 taking the name Pius II. During the course of his Papacy, he changed the ancient Castello di Corsignano (first mentioned in 828) into a Papal residence in the Renaissance style, planned and constructed under the supervision of Bernardo Gambarelli called il Rossellino, a student of Leon Battista Alberti, and renamed it Pienza ("Pius") - read more of the astounding life of this Renaissance Man. |
| Pienza is a rare example of Renaissance town
design. Often described as the "ideal city" or the "utopian city", it represents one of the best planned
of Renaissance towns, where a model of ideal living and government was
attempted, based on the concept of a town able to satisfy the needs of a
peaceful and hardworking populace. It represented the so-called utopia of the
"civitas" cherished by utopian thinkers for centuries.
Pienza's location in the centre of the Val d'Orcia, a wonderful and untouched valley,
helps the town to embody the fundamental principle that humanistic architecture
attempted to encorporate - the balanced relationship between Man and Nature. Nowadays, Pienza is part of a territorial system called "Parco artistico, naturale e culturale della Val d'Orcia", which aims at preservation of the extraordinary artistic heritage of the five boroughs which constitute it: Castiglion d'Orcia, Montalcino, San Quirico d'Orcia, Radicofani and Pienza. The center of Pienza was completely redesigned by Pope Pius II in Renaissance times. He planned to transform his birthplace into a model Renaissance town. The architect Bernardo Rossellino was commissioned to build a Duomo, papal palace and town hall, and the construction was completed in three years. |
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The Renaissance architecture of Papal Pienza itself is well-know and worth a whole day to visit. Less well known are several interesting castles in the vicinity of Pienza. These are wonderful for excursions on a sunny day.
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The ancient castle of Spedaletto rises in the Valdorcia along the road from Bagno Vignoni near San Quirico to Pienza. | |
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There
is also a world outside Pienza . . . .
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