A night in Pienza

Pienza by night.
A time when all is quiet
and the beauty
is there for all to witness

It is easy to suggest to go to Pienza. Most have heard of it. It is different however to suggest to go to Pienza of an evening, a time when it is really possible to imagine being in an age which recalls all of a late Gothic period mixed with a Renaissance influence. The gay confusion which animates the town by day is replaced by a clear silence in the evening and in the alleyways there is a refreshing pure air and the walls of the houses and place type buildings stand proud. It is an atmosphere of other times. It is as if one is thrown back in time and feels oneself a little small, a little surprised, a little disbelieving even. And then when you reach the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, it wanted by Pope Pio II Piccolomini in 1459 and built by Bernardo Rossellino, you stop in your tracks for such is the splendour of the sight that it almost seems that we should ask if it is permitted to look! What an incredible sight to behold. Beautiful indeed.

Bagno Vignoni – Pienza, 15 kilometres

Places

Vitaleta Chapel

It is positioned in isolated fashion as if it had not been visited in a thousand years. Yet, it is a place of constant visit, both in its guise as a sacred place and as a destination for intrepid wayfarers to tick off their list.

Villages

Radicofani

In the small square of Radicofani, in the presence of a Roman church which is a joy for the eyes and a gift for the heart there is a commemorative plaque fixed to the wall.

Along the way

The valley of cypresses

There is not only Bolgheri. There are not only the cypresses of San Quirico d'Orcia, splendid as they are on the hill. The cypresses are dotted here, there, and everywhere and they are the very embodiment of this landscape.

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