If you drive along the Regional road SR2, which follows the layout of the ancient Via Cassia connecting Viterbo and Siena, ideal for not hurried people, you will meet a lot of places decidedly worthy seeing. With a short diversion you can reach Pienza.
Located in the heart of the Orcia Valley the "ideal city" conceived by the mind of Pope Pius II (from whom it derives its name) and Leon Battista Alberti, was the result of the complete renovation of the pre-existing early-Middle Aged village of Corsignano.
The work was entrusted to architect Bernardo Rossellino on the advice of Alberti, quite incredibly the complete works took about three years! Walking along its central roads you will feel transported in full Italian Renaissance.
Today Pienza represents a kind of "city museum", location among the most cultured and famous of the region in the field of cultural tourism.
The visit to this little and lovely historic center can request more or less time based on the sensibility of the visitor.
There are not many monuments, but the extraordinariness of the urban spaces and the magnificent panoramas over the countryside and surrounding castles make Pienza a location where you can pleasantly spend one whole day.
In addition, the accommodation facilities and the restaurants are very good, with care given, obviously, to the famous local food-and-wine culture; even the shops with typical products, especially the delicious pecorino cheese, are nice.
The visit to Pienza has its culminating moment at beautiful Piazza Pio II: trapezoidal shape and imitating that of the old Corsignano, it symbolises the supremacy of Papal power, with a hierarchy that places the buildings at the margins of the piazza in a perspective manner giving more emphasis to the Cathedral.
The church was built in the second-half of the 15th century, on the site of the old Pieve di Santa Maria, retaking, in the apsidal zone, the German Gothic lines highly regarded by the Pope during his trips
The candid travertine facade, of Renaissance taste, has on the left side is a travertine cuspidate octagonal bell tower.
The interior, with three tall naves divided by culminated pillars in capitals contains works all dating back to the second-half of the 15th century, commissioned by Pope Piccolomini to the major Sienese artists of the time.
A curiosity: if you look towards the right end of the central navy you shall see a hanging thurible that appears to hang... crookedly!
Which of course is impossible.
So, looking more attentively, you will discover that the church is crooked, and that the basis of the columns are of different heights.
This is because during the construction the rock on which the church is based gave a little away, but the architect was so skillful to harmonize the whole that it is very difficult to perceive the imperfection.
In the crypt you can admire a beautiful travertine baptistery fountain, designed by Rossellino, and fragmented Romanesque frescoes.
On the sides of the Duomo are Palazzo Vescovile and Palazzo Piccolomini. The last is the solemn papal residence designed by Rossellino on the inspiration of the Florentine Rucellai Palazzo.
Palazzo Piccolomini has a redone rusticated ashlar-work facade in which open slender double-lancet windows.
The interior is structured around a open-gallery courtyard, decorated with graffiti and embellished by columns with Corinthian capitals, which lead to the vaults of the leaning garden, splendid scenic view over the Orcia Valley, Mount Amiata, Mount Cetona, Radicofani, and Montalcino.
Then going up to the first floor, which you reach from the courtyard, the rooms have furniture and decorations, elegant fireplaces with coats of arms, majolica, benches, looms and musical instruments, dating from the 15th to 17th century, which envelop the visitor in a complete Renaissance atmosphere.
To note are surely the Sala degli Antenati (Ancestor's Hall), dining room, the Sala della Musica and delle Armi (Music and Arms Halls), the room of Pope Pius II, as well as the library and the gallery.
At the feet of the building, on the side of the piazza, is an opening onto a travertine well, by Rossellino, with two columns mounted by elegant capitals that support the finely worked architraves.
From the opposite side, Palazzo Vescovile is home to the Diocesan Museum, and redone in the 1400's, it maintains, at least partially, the primitive Gothic lines, with a sober facade and open by a tall portal with two rows of windows with Guelph-cross pattern.
Meeting quietly with the Cathedral, in a more low-profile (and subordinate) position, is the Renaissance Palazzo Comunale with loggia on the ground floor and facade graffito-decorated that culminates in an embattled tower.
Next to it is Palazzo Ammannati dating back to the 15th century.
The purpose of Italy Travelguide is to let you get to know many exceptional Italian destinations, little-known or off the paths of mass tourism.
For more informations visit our Italy Travelguide by clicking the links below:
http://www.ruraljourney.com/italy_travelguide/?g2_language=en
http://www.ruraljourney.com/
http://tracks.vagabondo.net/
Author RSS Views:
Print this article
Ask about this article