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For a diagram showing the relationships of the buildings around the central piazza of Pienza, click here.
Palazzo Piccolomini:
Pienza used to be called Corsignano and is still today a very small town. But it was the birthplace of a well-known humanist scholar, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, who became Pope Pius II. After returning to this town after many years and seeing the town and the family structures worn down and in disrepair, he commissioned Bernardo Rosselino to design and rennovate several structures, the most important of which surrounded the town's main piazza or square, the Piazza Piccolomini, the cathedral, the town hall, and another smaller palace for the Bishop (building campaign lasted from 1459-1462). Pius II renamed the town Pienza and raised its episcopal status to that of a Bishopric, a rather uncommon honor for such a small place. The family palace occupies the west side of the piazza, while the cathedral is in the south. The Bishop's palace is in the east section and the town hall finishes off the north side.
The Palazzo Piccolomini has some similarities with the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence, which Rosselino had build after designs by Alberti. It is a roughly square structure with three stories and with a cortile or courtyard in the center (see photo below). Generally, in such palaces, the lower rooms were more public while the upper rooms were more private (bedrooms etc.). You can't see this in any of the pictures, but the south side of the palace wall overlooks a garden and the lovely valley and mountains beyond.
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The Cathedral facade very clearly demonstrates an interest in a classical architectural vocabulary. The arches and niches, the classicizing pediment all remind one of Imperian Roman architecture. Not one to be shy, Pius II had his papal coat of arms dominating the center of the pediment, imitating the Roman Emperors who often had dediations prominently displayed in the facades of the buildings they had built.
The interior of the structure, however, is decidedly unclassical, and imitates the vaults of gothic hall churches which Pius II had seen in Germany when he was younger (NB--a hall chruch has a nave and side aisles with vaults the same height, which is different from the usual system where the side aisles are significantly lower that the central nave vaults).
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