Life in Pienza...Then and Now

Then...

People have lived in what is now Pienza for thousands of years.  Our friends Isabella and Carlo have a farm on the edge of town.  Several years ago they were renovating their barn and discovered a buried Etruscan ruin.  Because of its potential archeological value, they wanted archeologists to excavate the site.  They applied to to government and are still waiting for an approval which they doubt will come in their lifetimes.

However, there is other documented evidence of Etruscan life in Pienza from pre-Roman times.

This archeological site---a few hundred meters from the center of town---was excavated in the 1970’s.  It stands just a few meters uphill from the natural spring considered the site of the first settlement here. 

And right across from this spring stands the original church of Pieve di Corsignano...which was built in 715.   

The church is so old, the bas relief over the door contains pagan symbols.

Corsignano was a place where people from the surrounding valley came for markets, prayer and just to get together.  It was not a hilltop town.  It is a steep, short walk down from the hill top.

Fast forward 500 years to 1253.  The Piccolomini family gets run out of Siena. They end up around Corsignano.  They thrive here, and Pieve di Corsignano grows first into a tiny village then a town.  In the mid-1400’s, one of their sons--Enea Silvio---becomes a Cardinal and a few years later Pope Pius II (1458.)

Pius II completely rebuilds his hometown into the world’s first planned city, according to architectural historians.  He died before the city was completed.  

The city included a Duomo (Cathedral) dedicated to Pius II himself.

Note the large disc atop the church’s facade.

                           It contains the coat of arms of  Pius II.

The Piccolomini family crest

...with the Cardinal's mitre added...

...and finally the crossed keys of the Pope.

...and Now

Think of Pienza today as a 15th century city...with WIFI.

Our apartment is small ...

...but has all the modern conveniences.

A clothes washer...

              ...with an automatic spin cycle.

...and a solar-powered dryer.

Roger was excited he would get to watch the world’s best soccer on TV.  But our apartment only gets game shows....                         

...or cartoons

To watch real calcio, we go the the neighborhood bar, where the Italian World Cup qualifying match was on pay TV.

Grocery shopping is another experience.  There is a very small supermarket in town. Mostly though, we get bread from the panificio, produce from the frutta & vedura vendor, and meat from the machelleria.  Every Wednesday, the fish monger comes to town in his truck...

...and on Fridays, there’s a farmers’ market.

We’ve been very fortunate so far to have had two sets of visitors...

 

Puddin and George Cox were in Cortona taking a cooking class.  They drove down for the day.

Rebecca Fox and Bob Heller spent a few days with us and provided transportation to Redicofani, so we didn’t have to cycle to the top of that ridiculous hill.

By the way, in this picture, we are standing at Via del Bacio... Street of the Kiss.  There are 4 short streets in a row which lead off the Panorama, a walkway around the West side of the city and overlooking the val d’orcia.  They are, in order, the Streets of Fortune, Love, a Kiss, and the Dark.  Use your imagination.  About half the tourists walking the panorama are laughing when they get to Street of Dark  (It’s where we live, so we hear them through the open window - In the laundry photo above, Carol is hanging over not just the laundry, but the Panorama.  That’s our bedroom window.  The kitchen window is about three feet away, with curved grillwork.)


And finally, we want to thank our daughter-in-law Lita Monaghan for providing us with our traveling wardrobe.