Historic Centre of the City of Pienza

Pienza is what happens when a pope redesigns his own birthplace. In 1459 Pius II commissioned Bernardo Rossellino to remake the Tuscan village of Corsignano as a model Renaissance town, and the result — cathedral, Piccolomini Palace and trapezoidal piazza composed as one harmonious ensemble — became the first built test of humanist urban theory. UNESCO placed the historic centre on the World Heritage List in 1996; the Val d'Orcia views from its walls remain gloriously intact.