CIMG1911

Pienza and The Orcia Valley

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June 7th 2012
Picnic day continued... From the Pecorini cheese farm we went to Pienza (Storico), another walled-village, Renaissance-style, apparently planned in the 1400’s by the Pope himself... Pope Pius II. (I think I called him Paulo in my last entry - perhaps that was his nickname.) Anyway there is a magnificent palace where he once lived and of course a very grand cathedral to match… both these are l ... read more

Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Pienza

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Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI establis... ... read more