PIENZA

A CITY FOR LOVE

It's hard to designate one Tuscan hill town as the most beautiful. Many will say San Gimignano with its seven towers. The problem with that is it's what gets the most publicity and that then draws the big crowds. Parking is such a mess our Dutch friends gave up trying and just turned around and came back. We did make it once but it was shoulder-to-shoulder with cargo shorts and Asian umbrellas.

We tend to stick to the southern hills. Everyone knows our favorite is Montalcino but there are others we love like San Quirico, Bagno Vignoni and our runner-up Pienza.

Pienza began as a pet project for Pope Pius II in 1458. He was born in the small-undistinguished village of Corsignano. When you're Pope, at least back in the 1400's, you can pretty much do what you want. Pius decided he wanted to honor his birthplace by rebuilding it as the quintessential Renaissance village. I'm guessing he didn't want his peers to think he came from an impoverished little hamlet but rather from a grand architecturally significant city.

In four years the town was complete having been designed by Italy's most significant architects of the time but Pius died and so did any further construction. Good for us. It left an amazing architectural fifteenth-century city that has remained mostly untouched for all of us to enjoy.

It is so photogenic that Franco Zeffirelli chose it as a major location for his 1968 film, Romeo and Juliet. That only added to the romantic appeal of a city whose streets are named Kiss  and Love.

We decided on an early morning trip to avoid any of the crowds and be able to find parking easily though Pienza is never as crowded as some other popular destinations. The early trip also gave us the option of returning to our favorite place, poolside in Armena. We had considered lunch but then passed. Years ago when Emmy was a preschooler we had dinner at la buca delle fate where the surprise guest was a bat. This was apparently a fairly common occurrence. The local men who were dining that evening rose in mass twirling their white napkins in the air while the rest of us cowered and ducked as the bat dive bombed us diners until he finally found his way out the way he came in - through the front door.

Of course, no trip to anywhere for us is complete without a little shopping even if we didn't buy a thing. Once again we were drawn like bears to honey to any fabric store and these shops were in abundance in Pienza.

One of Pienza's most notable products is its Pecorino cheese. Pienza has been recognized as the capital of Pecorino and the scent of the cheese permeates the streets and even the shops that don't sell the fragrant cheese. It is said its popularity is due to the grass that the Pienzian goats munch that gives the cheese its particularly distinct and delicious flavor.

I did mention that Pienza is on the Love Route through Tuscany. If the names of the streets and the romantic beauty of the city weren't enough the shopping confirmed it. Watch out for cupid's arrow if you enter through the archway of Pienza.

If you've never been to Pienza it should be on your bucket list. Young love is all over the city but even old love can blossom along the embanked lanes that embrace the city.

With views like this who can resist.