Urbino, il Palazzo Ducale e il centro storico

Today, the Palace, characterized by unique Towers and a splendid Courtyard of Honor, is home to the National Gallery of the Marche, the Regional Superintendence for Artistic and Historical Heritage, and the Urbino Archaeological Museum. The National Gallery houses absolute masterpieces such as Piero della Francesca’s “Flagellation” and “Madonna of Senigallia” and Raffaello Sanzio’s “Muta.” Among the numerous interior rooms of the Palace (<>, wrote Montaigne), stand out the Throne Hall and the Duke’s Studiolo, with its splendid inlaid covering and the series of portraits of the “Illustrious Men.” But Urbino is full of masterpieces, just scour streets and alleys to realize that it is a kind of mosaic city, whose tiles bear the marks of a long artistic and cultural history. Among the many, must-see stops are the Cathedral with its curious neo-Palladian style, rebuilt after the 1784 earthquake; the church of San Domenico with its splendid travertine portal, featuring the copy of the lunette by Luca della Robbia; the medieval church of San Francesco, with its Gothic bell tower and the large altarpiece by Federico Barocci; the sixteenth-century Oratory of San Giuseppe; the Renaissance Albani Palace; Raffaello’s birth house; the Albornoz Fortress, from whose battlements the view extends not only over the Ducal Palace but also over a magnificent backdrop of hills.