PIENZA
The large, trapezoidal square, overlooked by the main buildings of Pienza, is well-known the world over. What is not so well-known, however, is the incomparable charm of the parish church of Corsignano, which was founded as a rural baptistry along the road that led to the Adriatic Sea. The building was probably begun in the 7th century and boasts a cylindrical, pre-Romanesque, Lombard bell tower, which is rare for Tuscany. A myriad of intensely significant figures around the two doors bring to mind mediaeval animals. Disturbing sirens, snakes, the wheel of life, lions: all strong links with Etruscan, classical and Gallic culture, especially the worship of aquatic gods. The flowers, together with the triangles (a stylisation of the Eucharistic chalice) in the legend of the Holy Graal, depict the sacrificial chalice. On the southern door are Dionysian elements (the snake and the vine): these persisted in agricultural rites and mysterious beliefs in the countryside.