Urbino

Urbino is the very clear demonstration of how less than forty years of cultured governments, illuminated and effective, can transform a city forever and give such a strong character that it makes it beautiful, unique, and unmistakable.
The historic center extends for a little more than one square kilometer, enclosed by the bastioned wall and entirely constructed in brick; it is divided by two main roads which are almost perpendicular; they meet in Piazza della Repubblica, meeting place of Urbino inhabitants and students.
Federico III from Montefeltro governed Urbino from 1444 to 1482.
In those years, Urbino became a place and often home to major artists and cultural men of the Italian Renaissance: from Piero della Francesca to Luciano Laurana; from Leon Battista Alberti to Francesco di Giorgio Martini; from Melozzo da Forlì to Luca Pacioli and Paolo Uccello, only to name some of the most famous and with them a multitude of musicians, writers, set designers, technicians, decorators, sculptors, cabinet-makers in a marvelous and generous court. The sone of Federico Guidubaldo, when he came of age in 1502, continued the works of his father and married Elisabetta Gonzaga, a very capable and cultural woman who loved the court with the famous artistic meetings that Baldassarre Castiglione made eternal with his "Cortígiano".
Federico III made Luciano Laurana design and construct the Palazzo Ducale, which Castiglione defined as "Palazzo in the form of a city", great work that gives form to all of the urban center and with its great wall and two slender towers characterizes the skyline of the city from far away.
Even the interior of the Palazzo, which can be visited, with the large spaces and areas and decorated by splendid wooden inlays, are evidence of the very high quality of life of the court. Now the Palazzo is home to the National Gallery of the Marches, very rich in important works of art such as the "Ideal City" and the "Flagellation" by Piero della Francesca, the "Profanation of the Sacrifice" by Paolo  Uccello, “The Mute” by Raffaello, but also works by Tiziano, Luca Signorelli, Federico Barocci, as well as the very famous portrait of Federico da Montefeltro done by Pedro Berruguete around 1474.
A considerable collection of ceramics is on exhibition on the upper floor.
But a visit not to be missed is also that to the underground part of the Palazzo, where you will find the "technical layout" of the residence: from the refrigerator, created in an very isolated environment where it was imagined that the winter snow could be maintained here al year long, to the production of hot water with tubes leading to the ducal apartments, to the washing area.
 
In a tone lightly minor to its successors, before the other Montefeltros and, before the end of the dynasty, the Roveres, maintained the city until 1631, keeping the development of its cultural and artistic character; diverse works were commissioned to Tiziano and many to Federico Barocci, from Urbino. 
But in 1523 the Court was transfered to Pesaro, due to the importance of the seaside cities in respect to Urbino.

The period following 1631, year in which the last of the Roveres died, the dukedom was passed to the Papal State, signaling a strong decline of the city, which was also gradually strapped of its many treasures: the collections and many decorations were moved to Florence; then the portraits of the "Studiolo", the Muses of the Temple, and finally in 1657, the Library of Federico.
The situation improved at the beginning of the 18th century with the election of the papal throne of Clemente XI, son of the princess of the Albani family, which promoted civil and religious buildings with illuminated patronage.
In the era of Napoleon the city suffered the common events of many other cities, which for Urbino entailed - beyond the suppression of the church, convent and religious institutions -  extreme impoverishment of the artistic patronage with the destruction of some works (bronze sculptures, melted for military purposes) and the deportation of others to Milan, including the famous "Madonna with Child and Saints" by Piero della Francesca which became the famous 'Pala di Brera'. 

Today the city is an important university center, and the university has very old origins: it was, in fact, born with a decree by Guidubaldo in 1506, and the following events are very interesting. In the 20th century under the long rectorship of Carlo Bo, the large university complex was designed by Giancarlo de Carlo, one of the major Italian architects of the 20th century, on the Cappuccini hills; with successive enlargements it arrived to be able to hold up to 1500 students and is an modern architectural work worthy of a visit. 
There are numerous interesting museums: the Diocesan Museum "Albani", the "Giposteca" (plaster cast gallery), the Physics Laboratory, the Botanical Orchards, The Museum of Engraving "Leonardo Castellani Hall", and the birth house of  Raffaello.
In addition to the churches, other small oratories to see are the Oratory of San Giovanni, from 1416, entirely frescoes with a cycle of paintings on the life of San Giovanni (St. John) and the Crucifixion by the Salimbeni brothers, and the Oratory of  San Giuseppe, with the fascinating 16th-century nativity scene modeled in stucco by Brandani.

Albornoz Fortress, constructed during the papal dominion, isn't in itself interesting, but it is worth climbing because there is a magnificent view of the city from above.