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THIS MAY BE THE ONLY MUSEUM ON EARTH where pregnant women get in free. There’s only one painting displayed here, the striking Madonna del Parto, that shows Mary in her ninth month of pregnancy.

It’s a fifteenth-century masterpiece by Piero della Francesca, who dedicated it to his mother who was born in Monterchi. Mary stands in a pale blue robe, her hand over her full middle, flanked by boy angels who draw back curtains of a regal tent. It’s dramatic and serene—capturing Mary in a meditative moment, completely involved with the life growing inside her.

Francesca was a mathematician and in all his paintings there’s an arresting symmetry of precise lines and lighting, combined with a gentle spirit of compassion. He created the Madonna del Parto for a Monterchi church that was built on a Cult of Fertility site. Back in pagan days pregnant women traditionally went to this site to bathe in a hilltop spring and pray for protection and abundant breastmilk. The church built over it, called the Momentana, was actually a cemetery chapel, so ceremonies for both birth and death took place there for centuries.

The Momentana became severely damaged over the years, and Francesca’s fresco barely survived. Even though the only way to save the Madonna del Parto was to move it, the local women were so attached to it being in the cemetery chapel that they put up a fight, and ultimately lost.

The painting has been expertly restored and is displayed under glass in a sterile modern room in this museum that was once an elementary school. You’ve got to use your imagination to picture it in its original place, when all those Monterchi women would be kneeling in prayer before it. Now there’s a bench in the room with the painting (handy for pregnant women), so you can settle in and absorb. In other rooms of the museum there’s a theater where you can watch a movie about Piero della Francesca, displays about the Madonna del Parto’s restoration, and a gift shop with books and prints.

Outside the museum, the tiny medieval village of Monterchi is a dreamy place to circle up cobblestoned streets and enjoy hilltop views of the valley. When I stopped by, I felt part of a classic Sunday afternoon, with two elderly town couples sitting next to me at a caffè, drinking beer and playing cards.

Nearby is Arezzo, where you’ll find Piero della Francesca’s most famous fresco, The Legend of the True Cross, in the Basilica di San Francesco. As for female images, a wonderful Annunciation and scene featuring the Queen of Sheba meeting Solomon are a part of that masterpiece.

Museum of the Madonna del Parto: Open daily, 9-1, 2-5. Closed Tuesdays, www.madonnadelparto.it. Pregnant women and children under fourteen get in free.

Golden Day: Visit Monterchi (a half-hour drive from Arezzo), see The Madonna del Parto and have lunch at Al Travato (Piazza Umberto 1, 0575 70111, closed Monday), an old-style enoteca. For a charming place to stay in the area, go to Agriturismo Il Pozzo, www.agripozzo.it, that offers apartments, a pool, restaurant, and cooking classes.