Siena to Pienza: Private day trip

Main attractions

• A Renaissance ideal city in miniature — Pope Pius II rebuilt his birthplace village in 1459 as a model of humanist urban planning, commissioning Bernardo Rossellino to create a cathedral, papal palace, town hall and bishop's residence around a single perfectly proportioned piazza in just three years; the result is the purest expression of Renaissance civic ambition surviving in Italy
• The view from the cathedral terrace south across the Val d'Orcia — rolling clay hills, isolated farmhouses and cypress avenues dissolving into a pale Tuscan horizon — is among the most painted and photographed landscapes in the world

What to eat

• Pecorino di Pienza — sheep's milk cheese aged in walnut leaves, vine ash or clay — bought directly from the aged cheese shops lining Corso Rossellino; paired with local Brunello or Rosso di Montalcino