Pienza, the most beautiful part of Tuscany

Before going to Tuscany, we had to choose a place to live. And Pienza turned out to be the perfect place. Almost all the most beautiful Tuscan photos were taken not far from Pienza.




In Tuscany, it is better to live not in a hotel, but in an agriturismo. It is a kind of small rural hotel that stands in the middle of a field. There are plenty of them around Pienza and all over Tuscany. Many surrounded by cypress trees and are incredibly beautiful, tourists  stop to take pictures that then go viral. For example this beautiful agriturismo is right near Pienza (43.083764, 11.668176).


We lived in an apartment in Agriturismo Bonello (booking.com). In general, all agriturismo are similar, we chose the one which has the location close to the main road.


Let's go back to Pienza. It used to be a very small village, where the future Pope Pius II was born. He ordered a Renaissance town to be built here, which was done in the second half of the 15th century. A series of magnificent palazzos appeared, which completely transformed Pienza and made it an exemplary small Renaissance town.
















The most interesting palazzo, Piccolomini, is on the central square and can be visited.












Pienza was the setting for the Netflix series about the Medici family, and by far this is the best thing to watch about Tuscany. The house of the Medici family was filmed in Palazzo Piccolomini. In reality, they lived in Florence, but Florence has changed too much, so the series was filmed in small towns in Tuscany. The events shown, in general, coincide with historical information.








There is an interesting place within walking distance from Pienza called Campi Elisi (43.075023, 11.668087), the parking is 43.077458, 11.671416. In addition to the beautiful view of the cypresses and the Val D'Orcia valley, it is possible to take such photo there.




Do you recognize it? This is the location of a small, but one of the most beautiful, dramatic and famous scenes in the history of cinema. At the end of Gladiator (2000), Maximus dies in the arena and meets his previously murdered wife and son on their way home. The scene is very symbolic; the evening light here is both the end of the day, the end of life and the end of the movie. And of course the incredible music of Hans Zimmer. It's a very powerful scene, a well-deserved Oscar and the love of audiences around the world.


Getting there: parking lot 43.078142, 11.680799. From Montepulciano there are quite frequent buses, travel time is 30 minutes.