Urbino

Comune di Urbino
Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Marche
Province	Pesaro-Urbino (PU)
Mayor	Corbucci Franco

Elevation	451 m
Area	228 km²
Population
- Total (as of December 31, 2004)	15,441
- Density	66/km²
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	43°43′N 12°38′E
Gentilic	Urbinati
Dialing code	0722
Postal code	61029

Patron	St. Crescentinus
- Day	June 1
Location of Urbino in Italy</center>
Website: www.comune.urbino.ps.it

Urbino is a city in the Marche in Italy, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site, notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, specially under the patronage of its then duke, Federico da Montefeltro. The town, nestled on a high sloping hillside, retains much of its picturesque medieval aspect, somewhat distracted by the large carparks below the town. The city hosts the University of Urbino, founded in 1564, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Urbino (see below). Its best known architectural piece is the Palazzo Ducale , rebuilt by Luciano Laurana.

A panorama of Urbino.

1 History
2 Archbishops of Urbino
3 Majolica
4 Main sights
- 4.1 Palaces and public edifices
- 4.2 Churches
5 People from Urbino
6 Sources
7 External links
8 Categories

History

The modest Roman town of Urvinum Mataurense ("the little city on the river Mataurus") became an important strategic stronghold in the Gothic wars of the 6th century, captured in 538 from the Goths by the champion of the Emperor of the East, Belisarius, and frequently mentioned by the Byzantine historian Procopius. Though Pippin presented Urbino to the Papacy, independent traditions were expressed in its commune, until, around 1200 it came into the possession of the fighting nobles of nearby Montefeltro. They had no direct authority over the commune, but could pressure the commune to elect them podestà (potestas, "power") as Bonconte di Montefeltro managed in 1213, with the result that the Urbinese rebelled, formed an alliance with the independent commune of Rimini (1228), and by 1234 were masters of the city again. In the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines factions, associated with individual families and cities, rather than the struggle between Hohenstaufen emperors and the Papacy as they had been, the 13th and 14th century Montefeltro lords of Urbino were leaders of the Ghibellines of the Marche and in the Romagna.

The most famous member of the Montefeltro was Federico, lord of Urbino 1444 to 1482, a very successful condottiere, a skillful diplomat and an enthusiastic patron of art and literature. At his court, Piero della Francesca wrote on the science of perspective, Francesco di Giorgio Martini his Trattato di architettura ("Treatis on Architecture") and Raphael's father Giovanni Santi his poetical account of the chief artists of his time. Federico's brilliant court, through the descriptions in Baldassare Castiglione's Il Cortegiano ("The Book of the Courtier"), set standards of what characterized a then a modern European "gentleman" that were valid for centuries. (See Federico da Montefeltro for full biography.)

Duke Francesco della Rovere in courtly armour, painted by the Urbino artist Federico Barocci in 1572

Cesare Borgia dispossessed Guidobaldo da Montefeltre, duke of Urbino, and Elisabetta Gonzaga in 1502, with the connivance of his Papal father Alexander VI. After the Medici pope Leo X's brief attempt to establish a young Medici as duke, thwarted by the early death of Lorenzo II de' Medici in 1519, Urbino was ruled by the dynasty of Della Rovere dukes (see also War of Urbino).

In 1626 Pope Urban VIII definitively incorporated the Duchy into the papal dominions, the gift of the weary last Della Rovere duke in retirement after the assassination of his heir, to be governed by the archbishop. Its great library was removed to Rome and added to the Vatican Library in 1657. The later history of Urbino is part of the history of the Papal States and, after 1870, of the Kingdom (later Republic) of Italy.

See also: Dukes of Urbino

Archbishops of Urbino

The first known bishop in Urbino was Leontius, made Bishop of Rimini by Gregory the Great in 592. The cathedral was not permitted within the walls by the independent-spirited commune until 1021, under Bishop Theodoricus. Among a long list of bishops of interest within the Roman Catholic Church, Oddone Colonna (1380), later reigned as Pope Martin V. In 1563 Pius IV made the see metropolitan, that is independent of Rimini, with its own suffragans, or assistant bishops at Cagli, Senigallia, Pesaro, Fossombrone, Montefeltro, and Gubbio.

Majolica

The clay earth of Urbino, which still supports industrial brickworks, supplied a cluster of earthenware manufactories (botteghe) making the tin-glazed pottery known as maiolica. Simple local wares were being made in the 15th century at Urbino, but after 1520 the Della Rovere dukes, Francesco Maria della Rovere and his successor Guidobaldo II, encouraged the industry, which exported wares throughout Italy, first in a manner called istoriato using engravings after Mannerist painters, then in a style of light arabesques and grottesche after the manner of Raphael's stanzi at the Vatican. Other centers of 16th century wares in the Duchy of Urbino were at Gubbio and Castel Durante. The great name in Urbino majolica was that of Nicolo Pillipario's son Guido Fontana

View of the Duomo.

The Albornoz Fortress.

The church of San Donato near Urbino.

Main sights

Palaces and public edifices

The main attraction of Urbino is the Palazzo Ducale, begun in the second half of the 15th century by Federico II da Montefeltro. It houses the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, one of the most important collection of Renaissance paintings in the world.
Palazzo Albani (17th century)
Palazzo Odasi
Palazzo Passionei
The Albornoz Fortress, built by the omonymous Papal legate in the 14th century^[1]. In 1507-1511, when the Della Rovere added a new series of walls to the city, the rock was enclosed in them. It is now a public park.
Raphael's house and monument (1897).

Churches

The Duomo (cathedral) is a church founded in 1021 over a 6th century religious edifice. The 12th century plan was turned 90 degrees from the current one, which is a new construction also started by Federico II and commissioned to Francesco di Giorgio Martini, author of the Ducal Palace. Finished only in 1604, the Duomo had a simple plan with an nave and two aisles, and was destroyed by an earthquake in 1789. The church was again rebuilt by the Roman architect Giuseppe Valadier, the works lasting until 1801. The new church has a typical neo-classicist appearance, with a majestic dome. It houses a San Sebastian from 1557, an Assumption by Carlo Maratta (1701) and the famous Last Supper by Federico Barocci (1603-1608).
The church of San Giovanni Battista, with frescoes by Lorenzo Salimbeni da Sanseverino
Sant'Agostino, built in Romanesque style in the 13th century, but largely modified in the following centuries. The façade has a late-14th century almond portal in Gothic-Romanesuqe style, while the interior is greatly decorated. It houses a precious carved choir from the 6th century, manufactured for the marriage of Costanzo Sforza and Camilla of Aragona. The bell tower is from the 15th century.
San Francesco (14th century), originally a Gothic-Romanesque edifice of which a 18th century restoration has left only the portico and the bell tower. The interior has a nave and two aisles, and houses the Pardon of St. Francis, a 15th century work by Federico Barocci.
The Oratory San Giuseppe (early 16th century), composed by two chapels. It has a suggestive 16th century stucco praeseps by Federico Brandani

Outside the city is the Church of San Bernardino, housing the tombs of the Dukes of Urbino.

People from Urbino

Donato Bramante was born nearby, and witnessed Laurana's work going up while he was a youth
Raphael was born at Urbino, where his family's house is a museum-shrine

Others notable people from Urbino include:

Giovanni Santi, painter and poet, father of Raphael, was born nearby
Ottaviano Petrucci, inventor of the music print with movable type, was born nearby
Bartolomeo Carusi, theologian and professor at Bologna and Paris
Federico Commandini (1509), mathematician
Federico Barocci, painter
Federico Zuccari and Taddeo Zuccari, painters, were born nearby
Bernardino Baldi, mathematician and writer
Polydore Vergil or Virgil, chronicler in England
Umberto Piersanti, poet
Raffaello Carboni, Writer. The author of the main eyewitness account of events at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat, Australia.
Valentino Rossi, multiple MotoGP World Champion