Italy Guide
Tuscany
Pienza
PIENZA is as complete a Renaissance creation as any in Italy, established in an act of considerable vanity by Pope Pius II as a Utopian "New Town". The transformation of the village of Cortignano, where Pius was born, began in 1459 under the architect Bernardo Rossellino. The cost was astronomical, but the cathedral, papal and bishop's palaces, and the core of a town (renamed in Pius's honour), were completed in just three years. Pius lived just two more years, and of his successors only his nephew paid Pienza any regard: the city, intended to spread across the hill, stayed village-sized. Today, despite the large number of visitors, it still has an air of emptiness and folly: a natural stage set, where Zeffirelli filmed Romeo and Juliet.
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