in 1220. In the 13th century Franciscans settled down in Corsignano.

In 1405 Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini was born in Corsignano, a Renaissance humanist born into an exiled Sienese family, who later became Pope Pius II. Once he became Pope, Piccolomini had the entire village rebuilt as an ideal Renaissance town and renamed it Pienza ("city of Pius"). Intended as a retreat from Rome,