The great Italian poet and novelist Cesare Pavese, once wrote that ‘we do not remember days, we remember moments’. I couldn’t agree more with him, and while I drift into a daze, my thoughts race to the time I last visited the Tuscan town of Pienza, a UNESCO heritage listed site for its natural, artistic and cultural wealth.
From my journal….
– 23 February 2013
A freezing winter’s day doesn’t stop me from wandering the streets of Pienza. I walk past via del bacio and via dell’amore, a clear indication that medieval times had long been forgotten by the time they were named. Going in and out of the small artisan shops, I am struck by the way in which this small town epitomizes the perfect model of urban design and the architecture of Humanism.
I walk into the character-filled Caffé Piccolomini, and my taste buds become inebriated by a concoction of aromas floating in the air. The café’s window near my table soon fogs-up when a tall and robust chef hands me a piping-hot ribollita (mixed vegetable soup). His distinctive Roman accent makes me reminisce on my thirty years spent in Rome and we start conversing about the pros and cons of living in a small town in Tuscany. He says that after many years as a head-chef in Italy’s capital, he made the decision to move to Pienza in search of a more holistic lifestyle. Living only less than two hours away from Rome, there’s no doubt that he has the best of two worlds.
Not far from the café, there is the palatial residence of Pope Pius II, Palazzo Piccolomini. I enter its many rooms and with reverence I whisper my way through the stillness of bygone times. Then all of a sudden, the guide opens the doors to the main portico on the second floor and I find myself face to face with a breathtaking view of the Val d’Orcia. The last rays of a weak wintery sun light up its emerald fields, dotted with farmhouses and ancient winding paths. It is in that precise moment that I wish time could stand still.
