I have been once in the beautiful town of Pienza, constructed on the top of a hill surmounting the Orcia Valley, also listed as a WHS, between the Mount Amiata and the region of the Crete Senesi. It is an ideal Renaissance town, in which was transformed from 1459 under the Pope Pius II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini), that was born here when it was a medieval village called Corsignano; the Renaissance centre was projected following the theories of Leon Battista Alberti by his collaborator Bernardo Rossellino. On the beautiful trapezoidal Pius II’s Square, that is situated on a rock, the boundary of the town, and has a herringbone paving edged with travertine, overlook the most important buildings. The cathedral, projected by Rossellino with the influence of Alberti and made of travertine, has a Renaissance tripartite façade, divided by pillars and columns and decorated by the coat of arms of the family Piccolomini. The interior, divided in three aisles by clustered pillars from which spring the arches and the cross-vaults, was inspired by the Late Gothic German churches, that the Pope saw in his journeys around Europe. Inside there is a nice baptismal font and altars by Rossellino, Giovanni di Paolo, Vecchietta and Matteo di Giovanni. The Piccolomini Palace, constructed on the site of old houses owned by the family and constructed by Rossellino on the base of the Alberti’s Rucellai Palace in Florence, has three same three-storeyed façades, resting on a travertine plinth and divided by pilasters in three bands of sandstone rusticated ashlar, interrupted by arched double windows, and a fourth one with a triple-tiered lodge overlooking on a raised garden. The court is decorated with graffito on the second and third floors and in front of the palace is the most beautiful well of Pienza (there are also many fountains), projected by Rossellino. The Episcopal Palace (the former Pretorio Palace) was purchased by the Pope for the Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, who transformed it by addicting a storey and replacing the Gothic windows. The town hall, made of stuccoed tufa and brick with graffito, is in Tuscan style with an open lodge made of travertine at the ground level and a crenellated tower. The other major buildings, built for cardinals and other members of the papal court (even if some anterior buildings survive), are situated on the Rossellino Avenue, bringing from the Gate al Prato to the Gate al Ciglio, the entrances of the walls. There are the Gothic Church of St. Francis, the Atrebatense Palace, a Gothic building with Renaissance decorations, the Ammanati Palace, built in Renaissance style by Gerolamo Ammanati from Pavia, a favourite of the Pope, the Renaissance Gonzaga Palace, with a garden, the Treasurer’s Palace, the Palazzetto, made of bricks, the Palace Jouffroy, the Canonical Palace, the Palace Tommaso Piccolomini, the Palace Simone Piccolomini, the Palace Lolli and the convent of St. Charles. In the Street of the New Houses are the houses built by the Pope for the people and the quarter Gozzante contains the oldest houses of the town.

I liked very much this town because of the beauty and quality of its architecture. It’s worth to be visited if you are in Tuscany (if you go there you must leave the car out of the centre) and justifies the inscription also because it is the first Renaissance town, even if it could be inscribed in one single site with the Orcia Valley (another separated WHS), of which is part.

Photo: Pienza - Piccolomini Palace