Pienza

Located in the heart of the Orcia Valley the "ideal city" thought of by the mind of Pope Pius II (from whom it derives its name) and Leon Battista Alberti, it was the result of the complete renovation of the pre-existing early-Middle Aged village of Corsignano, work that was entrusted to, architect Bernardo Rossellino on the advice of Alberti. Today Pienza represents a kind of "city museum", location among the most cultured and famous cities of the region in the field of cultural tourism. The visit to this little and lovely historic center can request more or less time based on the sensibility of the visitor. There are not many monuments, but the extraordinariness of the urban spaces and the magnificent panoramas over the countryside and surrounding castles make Pienza a location where you can pleasantly spend one whole  day. In addition, the accommodation facilities and the restaurants are very good, with care given, obviously, to the famous local food-and-wine culture; even the shops with typical products, especially the delicious pecorino cheese, are nice.
The visit to Pienza has its culminating moment at beautiful Piazza Pio II: trapezoidal shape and imitating that of the old Corsignano, it expresses a symbol of supremacy of Papal power, with a hierarchy that places the buildings at the margins of the piazza in a perspective manner giving more emphasis to the Cathedral. The church was built in the second-half of the 15th century, on the site of the old Pieve di Santa Maria, retaking, in the apsidal zone, the German Gothic lines highly regarded by the Pope during his trips. The candid travertine façade, of Renaissance taste, is divided by two large pillars and open in three portals with rose windows and coats of arms of the lineage of Pius II. On the left side is a travertine cuspidate octagonal bell tower. The interior, with three tall naves divided by culminated pillars in capitals (even here with Gothic influence), holds works all dating back to the second-half of the 15th century, commissioned by Pope Piccolomini to the major Sienese artists of the time. In the crypt you can admire a beautiful travertine baptistry fountain, designed by Rossellino, and fragmented Romanesque frescoes belonging to Pieve. 
On the sides of the Duomo are Palazzo Vescovile and Palazzo Piccolomini. Solemn papal residence designed by Rossellino on the inspiration of the Florentine Rucellai Palazzo, Palazzo Piccolomini has a redone rusticated ashlar-work façade and is open by slender double-lancet windows. The interior is structured around a open-gallery courtyard, decorated with graffiti and embellished by columns with Corinthian capitals, which lead to the vaults of the leaning garden, splendid scenic view over the Orcia Valley, Mount Amiata, Mount Cetona, Radicofani, and Montalcino. Then going up to the first floor, which you reach from the courtyard, the rooms have furniture and decorations, elegant fireplaces with coats of arms, majolica, benches, looms and musical instruments, dating from the 15th to 17th century, which envelop the visitor in a complete Renaissance atmosphere. To note are surely the Sala degli Antenati (Ancestor's Hall), dining room, the Sala della Musica and delle Armi (Music and Arms Halls), the room of Pope Pius II, as well as the library and the gallery. At the feet of the building, on the side of the piazza, is an opening onto a travertine well, by Rossellino, with two columns mounted by elegant capitals that support the finely worked architraves. From the opposite part, Palazzo Vescovile is home to the Diocesan Museum, and redone in the 1400's, it maintains, at least partially, the primitive Gothic lines, with a sober façade and open by a tall portal with two rows of windows with Guelph-cross pattern. Meeting quietly with the Cathedral, in a more low-profile (and subordinate) position, is the Renaissance Palazzo Comunale with loggia on the ground floor and façade graffito-decorated that culminates in an embattled tower. Next to it is Palazzo Ammannati dating back to the 15th century.