The ideal Renaissance city — Pope Pius II's utopia and the home of Pecorino di Pienza
Pienza is the most perfectly preserved Renaissance urban experiment in existence. In 1459 Pope Pius II hired Bernardo Rossellino to transform his birthplace village of Corsignano into an ideal humanist city in just three years. The result — cathedral, papal palace, bishop's palace, and piazza aligned on a single axis with views over the Val d'Orcia — is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the only urban plan of the entire Renaissance to have been executed without compromise. The town also produces Pecorino di Pienza, matured in terracotta pots with wine, olive oil, or ash.
Enea Silvio Piccolomini, born in Corsignano in 1405, became Pope Pius II in 1458. He immediately commissioned a complete rebuild of his birthplace as a monument to Renaissance humanism — the name Pienza derives from his own name. Rossellino completed the commission in record time (1459–1462), creating a revolutionary urban ensemble. Pienza stood as a model for all subsequent ideal city planning in Europe. UNESCO inscribed it in 1996 as part of the Val d'Orcia; its population today is just 2,200.