Urbino

Federico da Montefeltro ruled Urbino in the second half of the fifteenth century and spent the proceeds of a career as a mercenary commander on building a court that drew mathematicians, architects and painters, producing a palace that Castiglione later used as the setting for his book on how a courtier should behave. The Palazzo Ducale is the result: a building of restrained proportion with twin towers on the valley front, holding Piero della Francesca's Flagellation, a small panel whose spatial construction has generated a library of argument. Raphael was born a few streets away and the house is open.

History

The modest Roman town of Urbinum Mataurense became a stronghold in the Gothic Wars, taken from the Ostrogoths by Belisarius in 538, and Pepin the Short gave it to the papacy in 754-756. Around 1200 it passed to the Montefeltro, who, apart from a revolt that won the commune back its independence in 1234, held it until 1508 and led the Ghibellines of the Marche and Romagna. Federico da Montefeltro, condottiere, diplomat and patron of art and letters, ruled as duke from 1444 to 1482, and the university was founded in 1506. Cesare Borgia drove out Duke Guidobaldo in 1502, and under the Della Rovere dukes the court moved to Pesaro in 1523 and Urbino slowly declined; in 1626 Pope Urban VIII absorbed the duchy into the Papal States, and much of the Ducal Palace's art went to Florence as the dowry of Vittoria della Rovere, forming a core of the future Uffizi (Wikipedia, Urbino).

What's there

• The Palazzo Ducale - the Renaissance court palace, restrained and exact.
• Piero della Francesca's Flagellation - the most argued-over small panel in Italy.
• The studiolo - Federico's small study, lined in inlaid wood illusion.
• Raphael's birthplace - a few streets from the palace.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Urbino is a university town and is livelier in term. It is genuinely awkward to reach without a car, with no railway and a bus from Pesaro. Winter in the Marche hills is cold and wet.

Before you go

There is no railway station and getting here means a bus or a car on winding roads, which is why it is far less visited than it deserves. The town is steep throughout. Museum hours are limited and closures on Mondays catch people out. Accommodation is limited.

Nearby

The Marche coast is an hour east; San Marino is an hour north.

Key facts