Discover Pieve di Corsignano

The Pieve dei Santi Vito e Modesto a Corsignano — known more simply as the Pieve di Corsignano — is a Catholic church standing in the locality of the same name near Pienza, in the province of Siena and the diocese of Montepulciano-Chiusi-Pienza.

The name matters: Corsignano was what Pienza was called before Pope Pius II, born here in 1405, had the entire village rebuilt as an ideal Renaissance town and renamed it after himself. This is the church of the older village, and in its baptismal font the future popes Pius II and Pius III were baptised.

The building is Romanesque, mostly 12th century, with three naves divided by quadrangular pillars; the arcades on the right-hand side appear to belong to a later phase. The terminal end is today without its apses. Older than the rest is the cylindrical bell tower, showing Ravenna influence and referable to the 11th century.

A small apsed crypt survives beneath the right nave. The rustic character of the building, particularly inside, is the result of a restoration of 1925.

A Romanesque country pieve with one genuinely unusual element and a good deal of carving for its size.

The round tower

The cylindrical bell tower is the architectural interest here. Tuscan campanili are square; a round one points somewhere else, and the source identifies the influence as Ravennate — the circular towers of Ravenna's churches. It is referable to the 11th century and is therefore older than the church it now serves, which means the site had a tower before it had this building.

The plan

Three naves divided by quadrangular pillars, mostly of the 12th century — plain square-sectioned supports rather than columns, which is the austere end of the Romanesque vocabulary. The right-hand arcades belong to a later phase, so the two sides of the nave are not contemporary with each other.

The terminal part is today without its apses. That absence governs how the interior reads: a Romanesque church is designed to be drawn eastward to a curved, lit sanctuary, and without the apses the space has no conclusion.

The carving

Three pieces, and they are the reason to walk round the building rather than just going in.

The main portal projects slightly from the facade, and in the splay of the opening stand two small columns carrying two concentric arches — the outer decorated with a zig-zag, the inner with vegetal motifs. Above it, a two-light window whose crutch capital is supported by a female figure: sculpture pressed into structural service, which is characteristically Romanesque.

The right-side portal is simpler in its making but richly decorated, and its architrave carries the Journey of the Magi and the Nativity — narrative relief on a secondary door.

The crypt

A small apsed crypt is preserved beneath the right nave — the apsidal form the church above has lost, surviving underground.

What is 1925

The rustic aspect, above all inside, is the result of a restoration of 1925. Early 20th-century restoration in Italy routinely stripped later finishes to expose bare stone, producing an "authentic" Romanesque look that the Middle Ages would not have recognised. Read the roughness as a modern decision.

The sequence here is unusual: the tower came first, the church grew in at least two phases, part of it was lost, and a 20th-century restoration decided what it would look like.

The tower, 11th century

The cylindrical campanile, of Ravenna influence, is the oldest element. Whatever stood beside it in the 11th century is not the building you now see.

The church, 12th century

The pieve as a Romanesque construction mostly of the 12th century: three naves on quadrangular pillars, with the carved main portal, the figure-carried mullioned window and the narrative side portal.

The right side, later

The arcades of the right-hand part appear to be of a later phase. A pieve rebuilt one flank at a time is the normal condition of a rural parish church, which repaired what fell and left what stood.

Losing the east end

At some point the apses at the terminal end were lost, and the church has been without them since. The small apsed crypt under the right nave survived, which leaves the odd situation of an apse-less church standing over an apsed undercroft.

Being left behind, from 1459

The most consequential thing that happened to this building was elsewhere. When Pius II had Corsignano rebuilt as Pienza from 1459, the new ideal city went up on the hill and this church was not rebuilt with it. Rossellino's cathedral took the role of the town's principal church; the pieve was left in the fields. Being passed over is why a 12th-century Romanesque fabric survives at all in the territory of the most deliberately modernised town in Tuscany.

The 1925 restoration

The last decisive intervention. The rustic character of the building, especially its interior, is the product of a restoration carried out in 1925 — which is to say that the bare, rough, undecorated quality visitors read as the oldest thing about the church is in fact the newest.

Why is this church important?

Because of its font. Pius II and Pius III were both baptised in it — two popes from the baptismal font of one village church. The village was Corsignano, and this was its parish church before Pius II had it rebuilt as Pienza and renamed after himself.

What are the opening hours, and is there a charge?

Neither is published anywhere we can verify, so this page states neither. It is a rural pieve with no operator and no web presence of its own. Assume it may be locked, go in the morning, and call the Comune di Pienza on 0578 748502 if you need certainty. The best carving is on the outside and is always visible.

How old is it?

The church is Romanesque and mostly 12th century. The cylindrical bell tower is referable to the 11th century and is therefore older than the church attached to it. The arcades on the right-hand side belong to a later phase again.

Why is the bell tower round?

Because of where its model came from. Tuscan campanili are square; this one shows Ravenna influence, after the circular towers of Ravenna's churches, which makes it a genuinely unusual form for this region.

What should I look at on the outside?

Three things. The main portal, slightly projecting, with two small columns in its splay carrying a zig-zag arch containing a vegetal one. The two-light window above it, whose crutch capital is supported by the figure of a woman. And the portal on the right side, plainer in make but richly carved, with the Journey of the Magi and the Nativity on its architrave.

Is the interior original?

The fabric largely is; the look is not. The rustic character, especially inside, is the result of a restoration of 1925. The terminal end has also lost its apses, so the church stops rather than closing — though a small apsed crypt survives beneath the right nave.

How do I get there from Pienza?

On foot, downhill, in a few minutes — and uphill coming back, which is the only real climb in Pienza. The pieve stands outside the town, in its own locality, and outside the UNESCO-inscribed historic centre, which is part of why it is never crowded.