A year after his election in 1459, Pius II raised his native town to city status and Episcopal residence, under the new name "Pienza", derived from Pius. He undertook an extensive program, in which he asked the architect Bernardo Rossellino to make Pienza a model city of the Renaissance. However, his death in 1464 brought a premature end to his operations, though he did have time to build both a papal palace and a cathedral.