Discover Pienza Cathedral

The Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta is the principal place of worship in Pienza and an Italian national monument. It was the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Pienza from 1462, then of the Diocese of Chiusi-Pienza from 1773, and since 1986 it has been a co-cathedral in the Diocese of Montepulciano-Chiusi-Pienza.

It was built on the will of Pope Pius II Piccolomini between 1459 and 1462 by Bernardo Rossellino, as part of the rebuilding of his birthplace into an ideal Renaissance town, and it was consecrated on 29 August 1462. It stands on the site of the older pieve di Santa Maria, which was demolished to make room — a much smaller Romanesque church, oriented east–west.

The cathedral was deliberately given an unusual north–south orientation, its main facade facing north, to achieve the urban coherence the pope and his architect were after. It was also set back as far south as possible to widen the square, which is why the apse and part of the transept rest on the steep slopes of the hill.

The tripartite travertine facade is Rossellino's. The interior is still structurally Gothic, in three naves of equal height, and holds panels commissioned by Pius II from Giovanni di Paolo, Matteo di Giovanni, Vecchietta and Sano di Pietro between about 1461 and 1463.

The Duomo is a Renaissance building with a Gothic skeleton and a German memory, and all three are deliberate.

The problem Rossellino was solving

The architecture here cannot be separated from the square. The area in which Rossellino had to group Pienza's principal buildings — the Palazzo Piccolomini, this church and the Palazzo Vescovile — was extremely narrow: no longer, the sources note, than the internal courtyard of the Palazzo Piccolomini.

His solution was to place the cathedral as far south as it would go, projecting almost half the church out over the hill, which left about 25 metres between the facade and the buildings along the north side of the main street. A rectangular square was impossible anyway: the street entered and left at different angles, the old Palazzo del priore was already fixed at about 90 degrees, and the Palazzo Piccolomini had to sit at 75 degrees to stay parallel to the church of San Francesco and in line with the street. The square therefore became a slightly irregular trapezoid — and it is that trapezoid, not the church, that made Pienza famous in the history of town planning.

The facade

Tripartite, in travertine, designed by Rossellino. Four pilasters divide it into three zones corresponding to the naves inside. A string course divides it into two storeys: three doors below, three large arches on columns above, with classical niches under the outer pair and an oculus in the centre. The arms of Pius II with the emblem of the Holy See sit on the tympanum.

The Gothic and the German strands

For one of the most important monuments of the Italian Renaissance, some details point elsewhere. The twin-pitched roof and the central oculus recall Franciscan Gothic churches, and also the German Hallenkirchen that Pius II had seen on his many journeys — particularly in the extreme luminosity of their glazing, which the Gothic windows of the side walls and apse reproduce here. The ensemble is nonetheless Renaissance, and shows the influence of Leon Battista Alberti, now regarded as the real inspirer of both Pienza and this church.

The interior

Still structurally tied to the Gothic: three naves all of the same height, the middle one merely wider, divided by two rows of pillars with attached half-columns whose decorated capitals are raised above the pillars, under cross vaults that the facade's own composition anticipates. The apse divides into three chapels, the largest holding the choir, and two further chapels occupy the arms of the crossing, each with a single large window.

This is a building whose construction history is also its structural problem, and the two cannot be told apart.

Clearing the site, from 1459

The pre-existing Romanesque church — the pieve di Santa Maria, much smaller and oriented east–west — was demolished. Its foundations then lay forgotten under the new church for four and a half centuries.

Turning the building, 1459–1462

The new cathedral was given an unusual north–south orientation, with the main facade to the north, for the sake of the urban coherence Pius II and Rossellino were trying to achieve. Reorienting a church by ninety degrees is not a small decision — it means rebuilding the liturgical logic of the building around a town plan — and it is the clearest evidence anywhere in Pienza that the square came first and the architecture second.

Pushing it over the hill

Then the fateful move. To widen the piazza, the Duomo was set back as far south as possible, so far that the apse and part of the transept rest on the steep slopes of the hill Pienza stands on. The gain was about 25 metres of square.

The consequence, from the moment it was finished

The east end has been settling ever since. The whole apse area has suffered subsidence because of the condition of the ground on which its perimeter walls stand, from the time of its construction onward. This is not earthquake damage or neglect; it is the direct, permanent bill for the decision to buy square footage with structural stability, and the cracks in the east end are the most honest thing in Pienza.

The bell tower, 1545 and 1570

Separately, the very slender campanile was damaged by the earthquake of 1545 and restored in 1570.

The great consolidation, 1911–1934

Twenty-three years of underpinning and consolidation works, which is the scale of intervention the subsidence eventually demanded. It was during these works that the foundations of the demolished Romanesque church were found — the building had been sitting on the evidence of its own predecessor the whole time.

Why does the cathedral face north?

Deliberately, and it is the key to the whole town. Pius II and Bernardo Rossellino wanted the buildings of Piazza Pio II to compose as a single designed space, so between 1459 and 1462 they built the cathedral on an unusual north–south axis with its main facade to the north. Almost no Italian church is oriented that way.

Why is the apse cracked?

Because of where it stands. To widen the square, the Duomo was pushed as far south as possible, until the apse and part of the transept were resting on the steep slopes of the hill. That bought about 25 metres of piazza, and the apse has been subsiding because of the ground under its perimeter walls ever since it was built. A twenty-three-year campaign of underpinning ran from 1911 to 1934.

What are the opening hours and how much is it?

Neither is published anywhere we can verify, which is why this page states none. It is a working co-cathedral rather than a museum, so entry is ordinarily free and the hours follow the clergy's needs. Go in the morning, and call the Comune di Pienza on 0578 748502 if your plan depends on a particular time.

What paintings are inside?

A set Pius II commissioned himself from the leading Sienese painters, between about 1461 and 1463: a late Giovanni di Paolo; two panels by Matteo di Giovanni; Vecchietta's Assumption of the Virgin; and a Sano di Pietro. There is also a 15th-century Tabernacle of the Most Holy Sacrament by Bernardo Rossellino — the architect of the building, working as a sculptor inside it — and a carved wooden choir of the later 15th century.

Is it Renaissance or Gothic?

Both, and knowingly. The design is Renaissance and shows the influence of Leon Battista Alberti, now considered the real inspirer of Pienza. But the interior is still structurally Gothic — three naves of equal height under cross vaults — and the twin-pitched roof, the central oculus and the Gothic windows recall Franciscan Gothic churches and the German Hallenkirchen Pius II had seen on his travels, above all for how much light they admit.

Has it always been a cathedral?

It was the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Pienza from 1462, then of the Diocese of Chiusi-Pienza from 1773, and since 1986 it has been a co-cathedral in the Diocese of Montepulciano-Chiusi-Pienza. It is also an Italian national monument.

What was here before?

The pieve di Santa Maria, a much smaller Romanesque church oriented east–west, demolished to make room. Its foundations were rediscovered under the cathedral during the consolidation works of 1911 to 1934.