Discover Palazzo Piccolomini

Palazzo Piccolomini stands on the west side of Piazza Pio II, next to the Duomo, in the centre of Pienza. It is one of the earliest examples of Renaissance architecture, built from 1459 to a design by Bernardo Rossellino.

It was commissioned by Pope Pius II, born Enea Silvio Piccolomini, a native of the small village of Corsignano which was afterwards renamed Pienza — città di Pio, the city of Pio — in his honour. The palace, also known as the Pontifical, was part of the project to rebuild that village as an ideal city.

For its design Rossellino took his cue from the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence, the work of his master Leon Battista Alberti.

The building is now a museum. You can visit the old hall of arms, Pius II's study, the bedchambers, and the art and sculpture collection he assembled. It has a square plan on three floors in rustic light stone, around a rectangular courtyard with a stone-columned loggia, and from the rear, on a clear day, the Val d'Orcia and the hills of Monte Amiata are visible.

Visits are guided, with an audio guide, and cover the palace together with its Renaissance garden.

This is a building that matters for what it starts rather than for how grand it is.

The Alberti line

For the palace's construction Rossellino was inspired by the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence, the work of his master Leon Battista Alberti. That is the whole architectural significance in one sentence: Alberti had worked out, on the Rucellai front, how to put a classical order onto a domestic facade as a flat grid, and Rossellino brought that idea out of Florence and used it for a pope's residence in a village. Palazzo Piccolomini is consequently one of the earliest examples of Renaissance architecture, and a dated, attributable link in the line that produced every regular palace front afterwards.

The elevation

A square plan on three floors in rustic light stone. On the first and second floors, two rows of large windows, all the same size and evenly spaced, between pilasters; each window split into two lights by a thin column. A frame below the windows runs along the corners and registers the floor levels within, and the stone family crests with apostolic insignia in gold and silver are set between some of the openings.

What this does is replace hierarchy with order. The windows do not get smaller as they rise and nothing is singled out, so the facade reads as a measured field rather than as a composition with a centre.

The courtyard

Rectangular, entered from the main door on the ground floor, with a loggia carried on stone columns. It is the standard Florentine arrangement, imported whole.

The angle, and what it cost the square

The palace could not be placed freely. It had to sit at about seventy-five degrees to remain parallel to the church of San Francesco and in alignment with the street, while the old Palazzo del priore opposite was already fixed at about ninety. With the site barely longer than this palace's own courtyard, a rectangular piazza was impossible, and Piazza Pio II took the shape of a slightly irregular trapezoid instead.

That trapezoid is what made Pienza famous in the history of town planning, and it is a direct consequence of where this building had to stand.

The palace went up quickly, as a single conception, and the interesting part of its fabric history is what it was designed around rather than what happened to it afterwards.

Built from 1459, in one campaign

Commissioned by Pius II from Bernardo Rossellino and begun in 1459, in the second half of the 15th century, as part of the reconstruction of Corsignano into Pienza. Unlike almost every other building in this batch, it was not accreted over centuries: it is a Renaissance design executed as a Renaissance design, which is why the elevation is so regular.

Built to a borrowed model

The fabric is a deliberate copy of an idea. Rossellino took the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence as his model, his master Alberti's building, and reproduced its logic — pilasters, evenly repeated two-light windows, a flat ordered front — in the local rustic light stone.

Built to a fixed angle

The constraint that shaped it was the street. The palace had to be set at about seventy-five degrees to stay parallel to the church of San Francesco and in line with the road, which fixed its footprint before the elevation was drawn.

Built with its back to the view

The building turns away from the square at the rear, where the garden and the loggia face south over falling ground toward the Val d'Orcia and Monte Amiata. Siting a palace so that its formal front addresses a designed square and its private side addresses a landscape is itself a Renaissance idea, and it is executed here as clearly as anywhere.

Converted to a museum

The interiors survive as a museum rather than as a residence: the hall of arms, Pius II's study, the bedchambers and the art and sculpture collection he assembled. The rooms are shown as rooms, which is why the visit is guided.

Used as a set

Not fabric, but part of what the building now is: it has served as a film location for The Devil in Love, Pleasant Nights and Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, and in the third season of Medici this palace and this square stood in for the Medici Palace and courtyard in Florence.

Can I just walk in?

No. The visit is guided only, with an audio guide, and covers the palace together with its Renaissance garden. The booking office is reachable Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00 on +39 0577 286300.

How much does it cost and how long does it take?

The operator publishes neither, which is why this page gives no figure for either. It also does not publish the palace's own opening hours — the 09:00 to 17:00 above is the booking office, not the building. Telephone before you plan your day, and treat any price you see quoted elsewhere as unverified.

Why does this palace matter architecturally?

Because of what it copies. Rossellino took the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence as his model — the work of his own master, Leon Battista Alberti — and brought that flat, ordered, pilastered facade out of Florence to build a pope's residence from 1459. That makes Palazzo Piccolomini one of the earliest examples of Renaissance architecture and a dated link in the line Alberti started.

What can you see inside?

The old hall of arms, Pius II's study, the bedchambers, and the art and sculpture collection Pius II assembled — plus the rectangular courtyard with its stone-columned loggia, and the Renaissance garden at the back.

Is the view worth it?

On a clear day, yes — and only on a clear day. From the rear of the palace you look across the Val d'Orcia to the hills of Monte Amiata. That landscape was itself inscribed by UNESCO in 2004, under cultural criteria (iv) and (vi), partly because it has been depicted in art from Renaissance painting to modern photography.

Who built it and for whom?

Bernardo Rossellino, from 1459, for Pope Pius II — born Enea Silvio Piccolomini in the village of Corsignano, which was rebuilt as an ideal city and renamed Pienza, città di Pio, in his honour. The palace is also known as the Pontifical.

Why is the square an odd shape?

Partly because of this building. The palace had to be set at about seventy-five degrees to stay parallel to the church of San Francesco and in line with the street, while the bishop's palace opposite was already fixed at about ninety, on a site barely longer than this palace's own courtyard. Piazza Pio II therefore became a slightly irregular trapezoid — the thing that made Pienza famous in town planning.