Pienza

Pienza is an Italian town of 2,190 inhabitants of the province of Siena in Tuscany. It is probably the most renowned and greater artistic importance of the Val d'Orcia. It is not far from the highway Cassia and the two other major towns of the valley, San Quirico d'Orcia and Castiglione d'Orcia. The historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

History

The town until 1462 was nothing more than a small village named Corsignano. The event that turned the tide was the birth in 1405 of Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who 53 years later became Pope Pius II. Just a trip to Mantua pope led him to cross the place of birth and the degradation that found led him to decide on the building above the old village and gave the project the architect Bernardo Rossellini: construction which lasted for about four years and led to the light a harmonious town with typically forms the fifteenth century. The premature death of Pope Pius II closed the history of the new city which has since undergone minor modifications.
Pienza is one of the city decorated for Valor for the Liberation War because she was awarded the Silver Medal for Military Valour for the sacrifices of its people and its activities in the partisan struggle during the Second World War.
For the beauty of its Renaissance town Pienza in 1996 became part of World Heritage natural, artistic and cultural heritage, followed in 2004 by the same valley area in which it stands: the Val d'Orcia.
Natural history: In 2003, in the nature reserve Lucciola Bella, have resurfaced the fossilized remains of a Etruridelphis giulii (marine mammal similar to a dolphin) lived in the area more than 4.5 million years ago, at a time when the existing gullies were the backdrop of the Tyrrhenian sea. The fossil was considered by scholars of great scientific value because it is the most complete specimen of the species in the world.
Monuments and places of interest

For more, see Planning and City of Pienza Pienza # ideal.
Much of the relevant historical and artistic heritage of Pienza is concentrated in the picturesque square dedicated to Pope Pius II personality that has given so much to the town, trying to make it his "ideal city" of the Renaissance. His projects entrusted to Bernardo Rossellini, were only partially completed, but they are still one of the most significant urban design rational of the Italian Renaissance. Isolated and clearly visible is the Renaissance Cathedral, in front of, next to the Town Hall and Palazzo Borgia and Palazzo Piccolomini. The Hermitage is a complex of rooms carved in the sandstone by hermit monks and is located near Pienza. Curious, in a cave, is the sculpture of a Madonna with six fingers.
Religious Architecture
Pienza Duomo
Church of St. Francis
Monastery of Sant'Anna in Camprena
Church of San Bernardino in Castelluccio di Pienza
Parish of Saints Leonard and Christopher Monticchiello
Pieve di Santa Maria dello Spino Monticchiello
Chapel of St. Regulus (Palazzo Massaini)
Misericordia Church
Church of St. John
Church of St. Catherine
Parish of Saints Vito and Modesto to Corsignano
Hermitage
Abbey of San Pietro in Campo
Church of St. Nicholas in Spedaletto
Civil architectures [edit]
Palazzo Piccolomini
Town Hall
Borgia Palace, seat of the Diocesan Museum
Conservatory of San Carlo