Piccolomini Palace is located in the center of Pienza, near the Duomo of Pienza. The palace, also known as Palazzo Pontificio, was commissioned by Enea Piccolomini, Pope Pius II, to Bernardo Rossellini, in the project of the reconstruction of Pienza as an ideal city. Designed in the late fifteenth century (after 1459 ), for the realization of the Piccolomini Palace, Rossellini was inspired by the Rucellai palace in Florence. The palace is one of the first examples of Renaissance architecture .