We arrived in Pienza on Friday evening, with the children already asleep on the back seats. We left the car parked along the SP146, just as the owner of Relais Il Chiostro di Pienza had suggested. Cost: €1.50 per hour; the ticket machine would not take cards and I only had a twenty-euro note. Giulio had to run all the way to a tabaccaio near the municipal sports ground, where the free bays are, to get some change.
The following morning, predictably, we didn't open an eye before 10:00. To be fair, the air conditioning worked well, the beds were comfortable, and who knows why all the accumulated tiredness simply hits you at once when you go on holiday. When we finally stepped out onto the street, the sun was already beating down hard on the pale facades. We had hoped to enjoy an empty Piazza Pio II, perhaps with long shadows and early-morning light, but instead we found it already packed with tour groups. No matter: the geometric heart of this town envisioned by Rossellino looks stunning regardless.
I was keen to visit Palazzo Piccolomini e Giardino Pensile. We had bought the combined 'Pienza Città di Luce' pass, which thankfully allowed us to skip the queue and saved us a tidy sum compared to individual tickets. The audio guide tour lasts under an hour, which was ideal for the children's attention spans. The hanging garden overlooking the Val d'Orcia truly is the first of the Renaissance. Then, to make the most of it, we also popped into the neighbouring Cattedrale dell'Assunta (Duomo di Pienza). The large stained-glass windows flooded the naves with light. The kids quickly grew restless, asking every ten seconds when we would be eating.
Which brings us to the food. For lunch, we had set our sights on Sette di Vino in Piazza di Spagna. A no-frills osteria: no pizza, no pasta. I asked for a table and the owner merely smiled, eyeing the sea of waiting people. Luckily, two diners were just getting up. We tucked into hearty bean-and-bread soups and a mountain of warm grilled pecorino. After a meal like that, what we really needed was a sofa, but we settled for the Passeggiata Panoramica di Via del Casello. Strolling along the top of the town walls past the alleyways of Love, Kiss and Fortune, while the kids pretended to run along the battlements, with Monte Amiata visible in the distance, did wonders for our digestion.
In the late afternoon, the plan was to tackle the Sentiero per la Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta. A two-hour walk. Yet at 17:00, across hills without a scrap of shade, the heat was still unbearable and our little girl's new shoes were rubbing. We opted for a fallback: the Pieve di Corsignano. A ten to fifteen-minute walk at most, through open countryside. It is the small Romanesque church where Pio II was baptised. Not a soul around, finally.
Come evening, keeping in mind all the warnings about reservations, we had booked a table at Trattoria Latte di Luna in Via San Carlo. Satiating ourselves on handmade pici and roast suckling pig at an outdoor table as the air begins to cool makes you completely forget the day's minor hiccups.
On Sunday, naturally, another late wake-up call. An endlessly lazy breakfast in our hotel's Franciscan cloister courtyard. In the end, before heading back home, we made a quick detour to Bagno Vignoni to see the Vasca Termale di Piazza delle Sorgenti. A twenty-minute drive. The monumental steaming basin in the centre of the hamlet is picturesque, of course, but honestly? After photographing it from every conceivable angle for three minutes, we realised we would have been far better off walking along the Strada Terrapille (Campi Elisi del Gladiatore), soaking up the sight of the cypresses from those final movie scenes, instead of staring at an enormous cordoned-off pool. Still, when all is said and done, flawed changes of plan are all part of the journey.