A pope was born in a humble village, and when he rose to the throne of St. Peter he did something no one had done before: he tore the village down and built, in its place, the first “ideal city” of the Renaissance.
In the golden heart of the Val d’Orcia stands a tiny town of almost impossible perfection: Pienza. It has no great wine of its own to rival its neighbors, yet no wine lover’s tour of southern Tuscany is complete without it — because Pienza is a work of art, a Renaissance dream made of stone, and it sits at the exact crossroads of Tuscany’s greatest reds.[1]
The pope who built a town
Pienza was born as the village of Corsignano, and its most famous son was Enea Silvio Piccolomini — a humanist scholar and diplomat who in 1458 was elected Pope Pius II. In a gesture of Renaissance confidence, Pius decided to transform his birthplace into a model city that embodied the new humanist ideals of harmony and proportion. Between 1459 and 1462 the architect Bernardo Rossellino rebuilt the town center — cathedral, papal palace, town hall, and piazza — as a single unified composition, and renamed it Pienza, “the city of Pius.”[1]
The result was revolutionary: Pienza is regarded as the first application of Renaissance humanist urban planning, a place designed all at once according to a single idea of the ideal city. UNESCO named its historic center a World Heritage Site in 1996 for exactly this reason, and the surrounding Val d’Orcia — those postcard hills of cypress and wheat — was itself inscribed as a World Heritage cultural landscape in 2004.[1]
Not a town that grew, but a town that was designed — the Renaissance idea of perfection, built in three years.
Cheese, and a quieter wine
Pienza’s great edible fame is not wine but cheese: Pecorino di Pienza, the celebrated sheep’s-milk cheese of the Val d’Orcia, is one of Italy’s most prized.[2] But wine is here too. The vineyards around the town fall within the Orcia DOC, a smaller, less-famous Sangiovese-based appellation that sits, both literally and figuratively, between its towering neighbors.[2]
| Where | The Val d’Orcia, province of Siena, southern Tuscany[1] |
|---|---|
| Built by | Pope Pius II, 1459–1462, architect Bernardo Rossellino[1] |
| Claim to fame | The first Renaissance “ideal city”; UNESCO site 1996[1] |
| Famous food | Pecorino di Pienza sheep’s-milk cheese[2] |
| Local wine | Orcia DOC (Sangiovese-based)[2] |
The perfect base
For the traveler, that central position is the point. From Pienza it is a short drive west to Montalcino and its mighty Brunello, and east to Montepulciano and its Vino Nobile — making this jewel of a town the ideal base for exploring the greatest reds of southern Tuscany.
See it in context
Pienza is one chapter in the larger story of Tuscan wine and Italy’s wine regions. To walk these hills yourself, our Italy wine tour travels through the Val d’Orcia and its towns.
Related reading: Brunello di Montalcino · Vino Nobile di Montepulciano · the history of Tuscan wine · the Wine History Timeline
Frequently asked questions
Why is Pienza famous?
Pienza is famous as the first Renaissance “ideal city” — rebuilt by Pope Pius II between 1459 and 1462 as a model of humanist urban design. Its historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it is also renowned for Pecorino di Pienza cheese.
Does Pienza have its own wine?
Yes — the vineyards around Pienza fall within the Orcia DOC, a smaller Sangiovese-based appellation. But the town sits between two far more famous wine areas: Montalcino (Brunello) and Montepulciano (Vino Nobile).
Sources
- “Pienza” (rebuilt from Corsignano by Pope Pius II, 1459–1462, architect Bernardo Rossellino; the first application of Renaissance humanist urban planning; UNESCO World Heritage Site 1996; the Val d’Orcia inscribed 2004), Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pienza
- “Pecorino di Pienza & Orcia DOC” (Pienza’s celebrated sheep’s-milk cheese; the Sangiovese-based Orcia DOC wine of the Val d’Orcia between Montalcino and Montepulciano), Italian Wine Central. italianwinecentral.com
Want to read more?
Books we drew on and recommend for going deeper on wine history.
9000 Years of Wine: A World HistoryRod Phillips
Cork DorkBianca Bosker
The World Atlas of WineHugh Johnson & Jancis RobinsonAs an Amazon Associate, Wine History Tours earns from qualifying purchases. This supports our research at no extra cost to you.
