Urbino
UNESCO World Heritage Site (Historic Centre Of Urbino, Inscribed 1998), Centred On The Palazzo Ducale Of Federico Da Montefeltro And The Galleria Nazionale Delle Marche · Urbino, Marche
Urbino is a small hill town in the Marche that spent about forty years in the fifteenth century being one of the most sophisticated courts in Europe, and then stopped, which is why it still looks like that. Federico da Montefeltro, a mercenary commander with a broken nose and a library, built a palace here that is less a fortress than an argument about how a ruler should live: two slender towers on the valley side, a courtyard that gets quoted in every history of architecture, and a small study panelled entirely in trompe-l'oeil inlaid wood that is one of the great rooms in Italy. The palace now holds the national gallery of the Marche, with Piero della Francesca's Flagellation in it. Raphael was born five minutes' walk away and the house is open. The whole town is a steep brick hill of student bars and bookshops, it has almost no through traffic, and hardly any foreign visitors reach it.
Piazza Rinascimento 13, Urbino, Marche, 61029, Italy
ALL TIMES UNVERIFIED FOR THIS ROW. Broadly: the Palazzo Ducale and the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche open daily with a short Monday and a last admission an hour before closing, and shut on 1 January and 25 December. The state-museum free first Sunday applies. Raphael's birthplace opens daily with a long midday interval and shorter winter hours. The Oratory of San Giovanni keeps short and unreliable hours. The Fortezza Albornoz park is open ground. Confirm before travelling, especially the oratory.