Birthplace of Raphael and the ideal Renaissance court — Montefeltro's mountain palace
Urbino is a small hilltop city in the Marche whose Palazzo Ducale (Ducal Palace) was, in the 15th century, considered the most beautiful palace in all Italy — the physical embodiment of the Renaissance ideal of the perfect ruler. Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, created a court that attracted the greatest artists and intellectuals of the age, and from it came Raphael (born 1483) and the political philosophy of The Book of the Courtier (Castiglione). The National Gallery of the Marche inside the palace holds Piero della Francesca's uncanny portrait of Federico and one of the most myste…
The medieval town of Urbino was insignificant until Federico da Montefeltro (1422–1482) transformed it into one of the Renaissance world's great courts. An extraordinarily successful condottiere (mercenary general) who never lost a battle, Federico used his military income to build the Palazzo Ducale, assemble a magnificent library (second only to the Vatican), and patronise Piero della Francesca, Francesco di Giorgio, Justus of Ghent, and a dozen other major artists. Raphael Sanzio was born here in 1483 — the same house and room survive as the Casa Natale di Raffaello. UNESCO inscribed the h…