Pienza
The Ideal City
Portrait
Pius II was born here in 1405 when it was the village of Corsignano, and in 1459 he commissioned Bernardo Rossellino to rebuild the centre on humanist principles — a cathedral, a papal palace and a town hall around one trapezoidal square, finished in three years. The pecorino from the surrounding Val d'Orcia is the other reason people come.
Nearby in the atlas