What to see in the city of Urbino

In Italy there are many cities that are worth a visit. This is the case of the city of Urbino.

Urbino is a walled city in the Marche region and it’s also a World Heritage city. Yes, the entire city of Urbino is a UNESCO site.

So, in this article, I’d like to list some of the places that makes Urbino a great historic Italian city.

HOUSE SANTI

House Santi is the house belonged to Giovanni Santi, father of the famous painter Raphael.

Raphael was born in this same house in 1483.

Few people know that also Raphael’s father was an artist. He was a painter and a poet too.

In 1637 House Santi started to host the Raphael Academy. If you visit this house today, you’ll find on the first floor typical old fournishings. In the living-room there are many paintings by Giovanni Santi. In the kitchen, instead, the time seems to have stopped. It is exactly as it was when Raphael was still alive.

In the bedroom when Raphael was probably born there is a painting called Madonna di Casa Santi – The Virgin of House Santi. People think that this painting was painted by Raphael himself when he was a child. If this was true, this would be the first Madonna he has ever painted.

In the house you can also see some potteries from the Renaissance, paintings by Raphael and Bramante, old coins and some portraits of the XIX century

DUCAL PALACE

Another interesting place to see in the city of Urbino is the ducal palace.

The ducal palace is a palace built in the Renaissance by different architects. In the past it was described as one of the most beautiful Italian palaces. It had a big library, and an incredible number of paintings, sculptures, potteries, silverwares, tapestries, etc.

Nowadays in the ducal palace you can see the Marche’s national gallery, the Chapel of Absolutions and the Temple of the Muses, and the Studiolo, a small room – 3m x 3m – facing the rural lands and containing many intarsia works and many iconic representations.

MARCHE’S NATIONAL GALLERY

Marche’s National gallery is hosted in the Ducal Palace. In it there was a rich collections of works of art, and potteries.

However, during the years some of the precious paintings were taken away. Cesare Borgia was the first one to take some of the paintings of the gallery and to give them away. In particular he moved one of the most important paintings of Michelangelo, Cupido dormiente – Sleeping Cupid – to Mantua. And then, from there this painting went lost.

Others took or moved some paintings, jewels and sculptures like Vittoria della Rovere, Cardinal Barberini, Pope Alessandro VII.

Nowadays the gallery have old potteries and coins, sculptures and many paintings painted by great artists, among others, Piero della Francesca, Federisco da Montefeltro, Raphael.

URBINO CATHEDRAL

Urbino Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Urbino Cathedral wasn’t built from scratch. Another Cathedral standed in the same place as the Urbino Cathedral stands today. This old Cathedral was reconstructed and completed in the XVIII century. The west front was ornated with five statues, three of them representing the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.

After a earthquake in 1789, the cupola had to be rebuilt and was reconstructed in a Neoclassical style.

Inside the Cathedral you’ll find many important canvases, beautiful frescos, and the tomb of Polydore Vergil, a famous Italian humanist and historian.

 

Have you already visited the Italian city of Urbino? What was your favourite place there?

---

Credits

Original image by il conte di Luna