PIENZA, Diocese of. - A diocese united with that of Chiusi, immediately subject, it belongs to the conciliar region of Etruria; it comprises 5 communes in the province of Siena. It has a population of 30,282 inhabitants, distributed among 36 parishes and 6 forane vicariates, it counts 108 churches and oratories, served by 44 secular and 10 regular priests; 72 religious sisters. The patron of the diocese is St. Andrew the Apostle, feast day 30 November.
I. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIOCESE
P., a small town in Tuscany, in the province of Siena, from which it is 52 km. distant, about 8 km. from the Cassia, on a hill (491 m.), is one of the most characteristic towns of the region, a true example of the early Renaissance. "Born from a thought, from a dream of beauty" (Pascoli) of Pius II (E. S. Colonna [v.]) who was born there on 18 Oct. 1405, when P. was the modest village of Corsignano; it arose as if by enchantment in little more than three years, from 1459 to 1462, after on 22 Febr. 1459 Pius II, having returned for the first time to Corsignano, conceived the bold design of transforming his birthplace into a city. Having received the commission, Rossellino immediately set to work, assisted by the most able Sienese of the time.
The Pope returned there in passing, on his return from Mantua to Rome, in Sept. 1460. In Aug. 1462 the works were almost completed and the Pontiff returned there to inaugurate the realization of his dream. With the bull Pro excellenti of 13 Aug. 1462 he called P. the old Corsignano and elevated it to an episcopal see. On the 29th of the same month the Cathedral was consecrated and on 7 Oct. P. had its first bishop in the Sienese nobleman Giovanni Cinughi.
With P., Pius II elevated Montalcino to the rank of city and diocese, making them aeque principaliter united under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy See; they were formed from parishes detached from the dioceses of Arezzo, Chiusi and Grosseto. They remained now united, now separate, until Clement VIII definitively separated them on 23 Oct. 1594. On 17 June 1772 Clement XIV united P. aeque principaliter with Chiusi; a union that still endures, preserving its direct dependence on the Holy See. The diocese of P. was for a long time in the hands of the Piccolomini (v.).
II. RELIGIOUS MONUMENTS
Parish church of Sts. Vitus and Modestus. About 1 km. from the center (toward the west). The church of ancient Corsignano: a Romanesque construction of the 11th-12th century, in rough tufa blocks, restored in 1925. Pius II and Pius III were baptized there. St. Francis, a Romanesque-Gothic church, pre-existing the creation of Pienza, restored in 1905. The Cathedral (dedicated to the Assumption), built on the ancient church of St. Mary, of which traces were found in 1932. It is a union of classical and Albertian forms in the facade, Gothic and Renaissance forms in the interior, with a radiating apse and three naves of equal height, supported by tetrastyle columns. Such did Pius II want it, in imitation of churches seen in Austria. The church is so luminous that the same Pontiff called it «domus vitrea». Perhaps a unique event in history, on Sept. 16, 1462 the Pope, in order to prevent any alteration of the temple, of which he had remained enthusiastic, issued a bull of excommunication against anyone who might dare in the future to disfigure it in any way. Unfortunately the haste of the construction prevented Rossellino from assuring himself of the stability of the foundations, which in the apse portion gave way from the time of construction: thus Gregory XIII on March 1, 1583 had to abrogate the bull of Pius II. Various over the course of the centuries have been the works of consolidation of the apse. The most important, those begun on Sept. 10, 1911 and finished in 1934, which assured the stability of the church and gave it back its original beauty. To the right of the Cathedral rises the Papal Palace, inspired by the Rucellai one of L. B. Alberti in Florence, and which is the masterpiece of Rossellino. On the Piazza, together with the Cathedral and the Papal Palace, there also rise the Episcopal Palace, a pre-existing Gothic palace, adapted to the new style by Card. Borgia, later Alexander VI, and on a portico of the Ionic order the Town Hall, elegant in its austere power; further on the Palazzo Ammannati. To the left of the Cathedral, near the slender octagonal pointed bell tower, there is the canonica, with the small but rich museum, where one may admire the celebrated cope, rich Flemish tapestries, choir books, panels by Sano di Pietro, by Bartolo di Fredi, by Sassetta, by Matteo di Giovanni, by Giovanni di Paolo and by Vecchietta (whose masterpiece, the Assumption, is in the Cathedral). Annexed to the museum is a valuable archaeological room of Etruscan-Roman excavation objects.
In the surroundings, interesting is the former monastery of St. Anne in Camprena, with the early frescoes of Sodoma, the Castle of Spedaletto (15th century), and Monticchiello for its historical and artistic importance. - See plate XC.
