Once more in the roads of Tuscany we travel to discover the magic of art, history and nature. Destination Val d'Orcia exploring the city of Pienza, eased among the hills and the cypress lines etching the summit of hills and knolls. In 1996 Pienza, like another municipality of the Siena province, San Gimignano, became UNESCO World Heritage. Pienza, risen between 1459 and 1462 through will of Pope Pio II, was built in the delightful and beautiful Val d'Orcia by the most illustrious humanists of the time, respecting the rules of renaissance art.

A town that seems to bound the visitor into another dimension, where time flows slowly and unaware of every day pace. The central square, Piazza Pio II, is the centre of the town and gathers around itself all Pienza’s major buildings: Palazzo Piccolomini, Palazzo Borgia, Palazzo Comunale and the cathedral. Palazzo Piccolomini, commissioned by Pope Pio II as the family residence, is now a museums where you can visit the ancient hall of arms, Pio II’s study, bedroom and library. Palazzo Borgia, today the seat of the Diocesan Museum, hosts in its 11 rooms Siena paintings of the period between the 13th and the 18th century painted by Lorenzetti, Signorelli, as well as illuminated codes, Flemish tapestries. As well as the permanent exhibition the museum also organises temporary art exhibits and collateral events. Finally the majestic cathedral, also built with the elegance, harmony and sense of proportion of the renaissance period. And then Saint Francis’ Church, one of the most ancient Franciscan buildings in Italy, once completely frescoed although now the only ones remaining are the 14th century pictorial depictions.

And finally the Hermitage, a few meters away from Pienza’s historical centre, made up of a number of spaces excavated by the hermit monks, among which a small chapel and a number of evocative little halls dug out of the sandstone starting from the 11th century. Nearby Pienza you will encounter the Pieve di Corsignano or Romanic origin, immersed in an almost unnatural landscape at the centre of the Val d'Orcia; the Castello di Spedaletto along the track of the ancient Via Francigena is halfway between Pienza and Bagno Vignoni.