Many times, we have shown our blog readers the main piazza in Pienza.
The most noticeable building in Piazza Pio is the duomo (cathedral), built by Pope Pius II in the middle of the 1400’s. But to the right of duomo is the Pope’s personal residence, another building of architectural…and historical…note.
When Pope Pius II was designing the city of Pienza with noted architect Bernardo Rossellino, he ordered his papal residence built on the site of his birth…and the rest of the city designed around it.
Visitors enter the palazzo into the cortile (main courtyard)
Frescoes that have survived almost 600 years of exposure to the weather grace the walls above the loggia…
…and the Piccolomini family coat of arms is prominently displayed.
A doorway at the back of the cortile leads to…
…the Pope’s personal garden, with its sweeping view of the Val d’Orcia and Monte Amiata in the distance.
Up a broad stairway to what Italians call the first floor is Pius II’s private residence.
The Music Room
His private Dining Room
…and his bedroom, which includes…
…a fresco by the controversial artist known as “il Sodoma.” (see more about him at https://rbergson.org/sodomas-revenge/)
One of the more interesting rooms in the palazzo is the armory, where the Pope’s Swiss Guards mustered and stored their weapons.
The furniture appears “boxy” to our modern tastes…
but the intarsia (inlay work) is as complex and competent as any furniture-maker could do today.
The public has access to the Palazzo Piccolomini thanks to the man in this 1917 photo.
Silvio Piccolomini was the last of the Piccolomini clan. He spent much of his life restoring the palace and bequeathed it to the city of Pienza upon his death.
His son Niccolo, also shown in the photo, was a pilot in the Italian Air Force…and died in a plane crash during WW II. The street Carol and Roger live on is named in his honor.
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