There is a legend in Albany, NY that goes like this: After WWII, Princess Beatrix of Holland came for a visit in order to thank the citizens for a boat load of relief supplies for a bombed out city. (They also sent tulips– so Albany has an annual tulip festival, and tulips are one symbol of the city.) Gov. Nelson Rockefeller gave a tour to the princess and was embarrassed by his worn out looking city. So he razed the old neighborhoods and built a shiny, new, model city. Sixty years later…mixed reviews.
Maybe he needed some tips from the (long dead) Pope Pius II. Pius, who spent his childhood in the town of Corsignano. Many years later, as Pope, he passed through with a guest for a visit. He was embarrassed, and decided to rebuild his town.
He engaged the humanist architect Rossellino and commenced rebuilding in 1459. The Cathedral was rennovated and rededicated in 1462. The town is a UNESCO hertigage site as the ideal renaissance town plan. The pope had a couple of years to use the new palace as his summer residence before he died. The town was renamed after the pope so has been Pienza for several hundred years.
The proportions of the cathedral and the palace are very even, one of the aspects giving the town a calm feeling. The windows are large and let in air. The Piccolomini family maintained ownership of the palace until the 1960s, and now it is a museum.
The garden is especially lovely, as is the view from the end of the garden, of the protected Tuscan landscape.
We left Pienza for a day trip into the countryside. Our first stop was a farm that mostly produces pecorino cheese from its sheep and goats. It also makes honey, olive oil, and grows vegetables. We had the most wonderful lunch with wine. We tasted seven cheeses! This is more than I can keep straight, actually, but it was fun. We had homemade pasta with a winter squash sauce.
What was really fun was seeing one of my family’s names in the name of the farm. Casale means “farmhouse.” The family who owns the cheese farm is Swiss, so definitely no relation.
We might have been ready for a nap, but were on the move again, to walk around another medieval town, Monticchiello. Lots of wine drinkers in the early evening. The stones have a warm color.
We headed back to Pienza and had time for a stroll and some shopping. The group gathered for what was one of my favorite meals this week, at Terrazza del Chiostro.
Entry posted 10/27/24; describing 10/26/24.
2 Responses
If you want to know everything about Pius II talk to my colleague Nancy Bisaha, whose first book treats his life. And if you have a chance go to the Piccolomini Library in Siena; the illuminated manuscripts are incredibly beautiful.
I will have to look up her book!