Casa Natale di Raffaello

The Palazzo Ducale is the principal monument of Urbino and one of the most interesting artistic-architectural examples of the Italian Renaissance. It houses the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche and the Museo del lapidario. The palace belongs to the Italian State and sits at the centre of the ancient city, flanked by the Cathedral and Teatro Sanzio. It is one of the most visited monuments in the region and hosts museum, musical, and artistic events. In 2015, together with the Galleria Nazionale, it recorded 191,829 visitors.

The most ambitious project of Federico da Montefeltro—a cultivated and refined man—was the construction of the Palazzo Ducale and, at the same time, the urban planning of Urbino to make it the city of the prince. Before Federico's interventions, the ducal residence was a simple palace on the southern hill, with a nearby fortress on the edge of the cliff toward Porta Valbona. The origins of the palace date back to when Count Antonio da Montefeltro, Federico's grandfather, decided to settle opposite the Cathedral; his son Guidantonio had a small palace built whose long side roughly corresponded to the long facade on Piazza Rinascimento. The names of a series of frescoed rooms are known, but today it is difficult to associate them with the current spaces.

In 1444 Federico da Montefeltro took power. After about a decade of financial consolidation, around 1454 he first connected the two ancient ducal buildings, calling Florentine architects led by Maso di Bartolomeo—of Brunelleschi's formation—to build an intermediate palace. The result, over ten years, was the three-storey Palazzetto della Jole in an austere, simple, typically Tuscan style. To this were added the Apartment of the Melaranci and a draft of the courtyard. The interior was decorated with sober antique accents in furnishings, friezes, and fireplaces, centred on the celebration of Hercules and martial virtues.

After 1462, the defeat of Sigismondo Malatesta at the Battle of Cesano and the acquisition of Fano and Senigallia increased Federico's revenues. He became captain general and arbiter of the Italian league. At that time the palace project changed, with the intention of surpassing all princely residences in Italy and making it also an administrative seat and a place to host illustrious personages. From around 1464 until 1472 the work passed to a new architect, the Dalmatian Luciano Laurana. A ducal charter issued on 10 June 1468 contains a programmatic declaration of intent, in which the architect is called 'ingegnero'. Laurana may have been suggested by Leon Battista Alberti, who had known him in Mantua.

The centrepiece of the new layout was the vast porticoed courtyard, which connected the previous buildings. The courtyard has harmonious, classical forms with a portico of round arches, oculi, and Corinthian columns on the ground floor, while the piano nobile is marked by pilasters and architraved windows. Along the first two string courses run inscriptions in Roman capitals, the classical epigraphic character; the capitals are also classical, copied from Flavian examples. Laurana also fortified the palace and the city, using oblique walls so that cannons could not knock them down, and other military stratagems.

Laurana also built the grand staircase (Scalone d'onore), the library, the Sala degli Angeli, the Sala delle Udienze, the Soprallogge, and the sacred area with the studiolo and small chapels. From this nucleus the palace was then extended toward the city and in the opposite direction. The facade facing the city took an 'open book' (L-shaped) form on Piazzale Duca Federico, which was specially arranged by Francesco di Giorgio Martini and later closed on the north side by the flank of the cathedral. The palace thus became the fulcrum of the urban fabric without causing ruptures and, with its presence, also subjugating the nearby religious authority.

The front overhanging Valbona was completed with the so-called 'facciata dei Torricini', slightly rotated westward relative to the orthogonal axes of the palace. It owes its name to the two towers that flank the tall, narrow facade, softened at the centre by the ascending rhythm of three superimposed loggias, each repeating the triumphal-arch scheme, probably inspired by the arch of Castel Nuovo in Naples built for Don Ferrante d'Aragona, of whom Federico was a rival.

The palace's grandeur is not only in its architecture but also in its function as a repository of art and power. Today, the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche displays works collected over centuries. The palace remains a living monument, hosting events and drawing visitors into the world of the Montefeltro court. The careful urban integration, the fortified elements, and the refined classical details make it a defining expression of Renaissance ideals.

The scale of the project is remarkable: from the Tuscan severity of the early phase to the majestic courtyard and the lofty Torricini, every part speaks to Federico's ambition. The palace was not just a residence but a statement of political and cultural supremacy. Even now, walking through its rooms and porticoes, one feels the weight of that history—the careful planning, the alliances, the wars, and the art that outlasted them all.