This year, 2020, on April 6th, the city of Urbino celebrated the 500th anniversary of the death of its most famous citizen. Raffaello was born in Urbino and lived only 37 years, but became known as one of the great artists of the Renaissance. A good enough reason to visit this gorgeous Renaissance city.
We stayed the night in the Albergo San Domenico, which was perfect as it is opposite the Palazzo Ducale, right in the heart of the city. Best of all it has parking in its courtyard which meant we could drive in.
The Duke of Montefeltro held court in the golden age of the Renaissance. Federico da Montefeltro began as a mercenary at age 16. He was the illegitimate son of the lord of Urbino. He was well educated in music, mathematics, astronomy, geometry, Latin and the arts. He was very successful and became wealthy. He became Duke of Urbino when he was 22 and was in power for 38 years. He used his wealth and power to turn Urbino into an important city.
The famous portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino was painted by Piero della Francesca around 1472. It now hangs in the Uffizzi in Florence.
Urbino is a small town, but there is much to enjoy. The cheerful hotel receptionist described it as “piccola ma carina”, small but charming. As soon as we had parked the car we set off explore. We walked past the Palazzo Ducale. We had a booking to see it later in the day. These days you need to book ahead to enter many sites in Italy.
Beside the palace is the Duomo di Urbino, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta. It was built on the site of the 1021 cathedral. It was rebuilt in the 15th century and completed in 1604. Major renovation is happening inside so we could not go in, but managed a photo through the barricades.
On from the Duomo the road narrows.
Between buildings there are glimpses of the beautiful countryside below Urbino.
A little further on is the central piazza which was pleasantly busy. Urbino is a university town, so it is lively and vibrant.
From the piazza the streets radiate out through the rest of the town, either uphill or down hill. Urbino is built on top of a ridge.
Our first booking was the house where Rafaello was born, but we had some time to spare so we wandered a little, first downhill towards the botanical gardens which were established in 1806 and are maintained by the university of Urbino.
The gardens were not open…another day.
Then it was uphill towards one of the entrances to the city.
…and uphill again to a park at the top of the city for some excellent views.
With stops along the way for more glimpses between buildings.
…at the top.
There were some lovely houses at the top.
…back down the steep steps to Raffaello’s birthplace. He was born March 28, 1483 into a wealthy family. The house is large, with a workshop onto the street. This is where Raffaello learned the first elements of drawing and painting.
The rooms are spacious and comfortable with some interesting quirks.
There is art from the era.
Several sculptures of Raffaello are dotted about.
Best of all is a fresco attributed to the young artist. It was originally said to be the work of his father, Giovanni, portraying his wife and the newborn Raffaello, but later believed to be painted by the young Raffaello under the supervision of his father. Giovanni Sanzio was an artist in the court of Federico da Montefeltro.
In an internal courtyard in the house was a tool from the workshop used to grind colours for the artists.
Then it was back up lots of steps to see the Oratorio di San Giuseppe constructed between 1503 and 1515. It was later decorated in Baroque style.
It was a short walk to our next stop with more of Urbino appearing between buildings.
The Oratorio di San Giovanni Battista (St John the Baptist),is a 14th century chapel with stunning Gothic style frescoes painted by the brothers Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni in 1416. The theme of the frescoes is mostly religious.
I like the street scenes. It is great to see the fashions of the day and if you look closely you can spot some every day things, like children fighting, a dog scratching and a mother with a tantrum throwing child.
I think it is incredible that these frescoes have survived so well and we can see a little of what life was like centuries ago.
The wooden ceiling was incredible too.
I will show you some of the magnificent Palazzo Ducale in the following post.