Green window shutters, red geraniums and a clear deep blue sky: a row of stone rubble houses seen through an arch in Pienza, a hilltop village in the scenic Val d’Orcia in Tuscany, Italy, that was rebuilt in the mid-1400s as a papal retreat from Rome.
Pienza, Val d’Orcia, Tuscany, Italy: red geraniums flourish below green window shutters along a row of ancient houses built of honey-coloured stone rubble, in this hilltop settlement rebuilt in the mid-1400s by a locally-born pope. Pienza, originally known as Corsignano, stands on a ridge in the scenic Val d’Orcia between the historic towns of Montepulciano and Montalcino. It was rebuilt and renamed after Renaissance humanist Aeneas or Enea Silvio Piccolomini, born in 1405 into a family exiled from Siena, became Pope Pius II in 1458. Within a year, he had begun to rebuild it as an ideal Renaissance retreat from Rome and changed its name to Pienza (city of Pius). The design, enhanced by a Renaissance Duomo or cathedral and new palaces, was by Florentine architect Bernardo Gambarelli (known as Bernardo Rossellino), perhaps with help from the humanist writer, philosopher, artist and architect Leon Battista Alberti, who served as a papal advisor. The scheme was one of modern Europe’s first city planning projects, and was also the first application of humanist principles to urban planning. It was highly influential, creating a new impetus for planning that was adopted by other Italian cities and eventually spread to other parts of Europe. Pienza, described as the “touchstone of Renaissance urbanism”, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
Size: 2747px × 4136px
Location: Pienza, Val d’Orcia, Tuscany, Italy.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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