Half Day Guided Tour of Pienza

Duration: 70 minutes Cost: DAY € 100,00 applied until 30 guests – € 2,00 each person over 30 – Children 5 & Under Free Tour Topics and Highlights: History, urban planning, architecture, local agricultural traditions, working artisan shop demonstration; Val d’Orcia—its history and relation to the town economy The town of Pienza and the Val d’Orcia are a unique combination, both being UNESCO World Heritage sites. Both town and country are timeless and untainted. This special coexistence is harmoniously highlighted with the town’s design of the path that spans the entire length of the town over the valley allowing for expansive panoramic views.
Built on a hill that dominates the Val d’Orcia, in the southern Siena’s province, Pienza is a completely intact, elegant Renaissance town, proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage of Humanity site (1996) for its important example of Renaissance urban planning, architecture and monuments.
Pope Pius II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini), a great humanist, commissioned his native village of Corsignano to be transformed from a medieval town to a splendid Renaissance city. Built of local yellow-ochre and white travertine stone, the pedestrian town of Pienza was designed by one of the most famous Florentine architects of his time, Bernardo Gambarelli known as the Rossellino, and built between 1459 and 1462. The itinerary includes the exceptional Cathedral 4Piazza Pio II and urban planning review 4 Palazzo Piccolomini and Palazzo Borgia’s courtyards 4 the Renaissance buildings 4 the medieval districts 4 the panoramic streets, from where the splendid landscape of the Val d’Orcia can be admired.
Did you know? The English Patient (1997) and Romeo and Juliet by Franco Zeffirelli (1968) were filmed here. The town of Pienza and the Val d’Orcia are a unique combination, both being UNESCO World Heritage sites. Both town and country are timeless and untainted. This special coexistence is harmoniously highlighted with the town’s design of the path that spans the entire length of the town over the valley allowing for expansive panoramic views.