Streets of Love in Pienza: the most romantic roads of Italy
February 14, 2014Pienza, renowned Renaissance village of Val d'Orcia, in Tuscany, is known not only for its wonderful historic center, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, but also for the so-called "Streets of Love". They are four little romantic roads that in the period of Valentine's Day attracts hundreds of tourists in the village: Via del Bacio, Via dell’Amore, Via della Fortuna and Via del Buia.
These are four tiny stringers that connect Via del Casello with Corso Rossellino, the main street of Pienza, named after the architect Bernardo Rossellini, who Pope Pius II, a native of the place, entrusted the project to transform the anonymous village in an elegant papal residence in the fifteenth century. The work was only partially completed, due to the premature death of the Pope, but enough to make Pienza one of the most wonderful examples of Italian Renaissance architecture.
Among the four Streets of Love, Via del Bacio, with its wonderful panoramic lookout over the Val d'Orcia, is probably the most characteristic and the ideal place to be immortalized in a photo. Via dell’Amore, Via della Fortuna and Via del Buia are more or less similar to the first: very small and, perhaps for this reason, particularly well suited as a backdrop to the secret meetings of couples in love.
The romantic atmosphere of Pienza was able to seduce even a world-famous film director like Franco Zeffirelli, who set here some scenes of his famous Romeo and Juliet in 1968, starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey and winner of two Academy Awards. Moreover, the most famous love story of all time could not find a place in a village dear to lovers.
Pienza is about 57 km from Siena, 116 km from Florence and can be reached by car on the highway A1 Rome- Florence, via exit in Valdichiana if you come from the north or Chiusi-Chianciano Terme, if you are coming from the south, then follow directions towards the countryside. Pienza is also served by a regular bus service to and from the train stations at Chiusi-Chianciano Terme and Buonconvento.
