The Ducal Palace of Urbino is one of the most interesting examples of architecture and art of the entire Renaissance period in Italy. Commissioned by Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, it was built during the 15th century in several phases. The longest side of its most ancient part, Palazzetto della Jole, overlooks Piazza del Rinascimento, linking it conceptually to the Church of St. Dominic, embellished by an elegant Renaissance portal created by Florentine craftsmen with a lunette decoration by Luca della Robbia.
Architect Luciano Laurana designed numerous rooms on the piano nobile that completed the Cortile d'Onore (the Scalone d'Onore, the Library, the Throne Room, the Sala degli Angeli, the Sala degli Udienze), the façade of the Torricini and the Studiolo of Duke Federico.
Francesco di Giorgio Martini completed the unfinished areas and designed the complex water system that was the pride of the building.
During the 16th century, as the Duchy passed to the Della Rovere dynasty, the palace underwent new extensions and changes, including the addition of a second piano nobile, the so-called Roveresco Apartment.
Today the Ducal Palace is home to the National Gallery of the Marches which uses 80 rooms, across the first and second floors, all those that have been that have been restored to date. The collection includes paintings on wood and canvas, frescoes, stone and terracotta sculptures, polychrome and gilded wooden sculptures, wooden marquetry, furniture, tapestries, drawings and engravings: the pieces date to between the 1300s and 1600s.
Marche Film Commission — Fondazione Marche Cultura
Piazza Cavour 23 — 60121 Ancona
Phone: +39 071 9951 623/624/625
Email: silvia.pincini@fondazionemarchecultura.it
