We had time to kill before lunch, so Chiara took us to Pienza. Unlike many of the other towns in the region, Pienza was built during peaceful times, so it didn’t have the typical fortifications common in the area.

Pienza as it looks now came to be thanks to Pope Pius II. Story has it that Pope Pius II was born in the region back when Pienza was known as a small village named Corsignano. He felt like as pope, he should come from a more beautiful and representative town for a pope, so he had Pienza rebuilt for use as his summer residence. Pienza, “city of Pius,” is known as an ideal Renaissance town, and was one of the first towns to apply urbanist planning concepts that were later applied to other cities across Europe. It also seemed to be the centre point for many spots around Tuscany. It was super hot and sunny so I wasn’t that up to explore, but we snapped a few photos before heading on to lunch.

Our next stop was to Il Casale, a Dairy Farm that produced a variety of pecorino cheeses. This was when Pokin learned that Pecorino cheeses described any kind of sheep’s milk cheese.

Apparently cheeses were brought in by the Sardinians. Tuscany used to be a really cheap region, and so many Sardinians immigrated to the area, bringing along their cheese technique.

Il Casale was perched up on the top of a hill, with beautiful views of the surrounding countryside.

I was impressed. I got a few pics. Everyone sat to eat lunch. The food was good. For them. They liked some sort of salad leaf named mizuna (portaluca in english). I didn’t. I’m not a goat.

Then it rained. On all of us. I was less happy about that. This giant raindrop landed perfectly into Pokin’s espresso cup which splashed coffee all over her. That was a little amusing.