 |
A visit to Pienza provides unalloyed pleasure to anyone who enjoys
Renaissance architecture, italianate gardens, Tuscan food - particularly pecorino - and splendid vistas. Pienza shares
the unspoiled Val d'Orcia with Montalcino,
Montepulciano and
San Quirico
and owes its wonderfully harmonious town plan to Rossellino
(probably working under strong influence of Leon Battista Alberti),
thanks to the patronage of Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini,
Pope Pius II, whose home town this is. The back of the Palazzo Piccolomini possesses loggias on all three floors that overlook an enclosed
giardino all'italiana
and enjoy spectacular views onto the Val d'Orcia. Pienza is rightly
famous for its ewes' milk cheese,
pecorino, of which there are a
multitude of varieties.
Worth an extended visit. More about the
humanistic town of Pienza. |
)
