Architechtural view of the interior courtyard of the Ducal Palace of Urbino in Italy. Historic Centre of Urbino, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Sent by Luca from Marche, Italy.
The small hill town of Urbino, in the Marche, experienced a great cultural flowering in the 15th century, attracting artists and scholars from all over Italy and beyond, and influencing cultural developments elsewhere in Europe. Owing to its economic and cultural stagnation from the 16th century onwards, it has preserved its Renaissance appearance to a remarkable extent.
The small Italian hill town of Urbino became, for a short time during the Renaissance era, one of the major cultural centres of Europe. Today, the historic centre is defined by its Renaissance walls that survive virtually intact, complete with bastions. Within these walls, several buildings of extraordinary quality have been retained such as the Ducal Palace, the cathedral, the Monastery of Santa Chiara and a complex system of oratories.
The initial nucleus of the city evolved from a fortified Roman settlement dating from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. The Romans built on the top of the hill where the Ducal Palace now stands and until the 11th century, the city remained within these limits. At the end of that century, its urban expansion required the construction of a new system of defensive walls. In the mid 15th century, Federico da Montefeltro undertook a radical rebuilding campaign within these original walls without disturbing the overall urban structure. The city was later further expanded to a second hill lying to the north, giving the area, now enclosed by the Renaissance walls an elongated outline.
Urbino is a small city in the hills that experienced an astonishing cultural flowering in the 15th century. During this period, it attracted artists and scholars from all over Italy and beyond which, in turn, influenced cultural developments elsewhere in Europe. Between 1444 and 1482, Federico da Montefeltro ruled in Urbino and his court brought together some of the era’s leaders: foremost humanists of the time such as Leone Battista Alberti, Marsilio Ficino, and Giovanni Bessarione; mathematicians like Paul van Middelburg; and artists such as Luciano Laurana, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Paolo Uccello, Piero della Francesca and Ambrogio Barocci. These men created and implemented outstanding cultural and urban projects. This cultural climate made it possible for Raffaello, Donato Bramante and the mathematician Luca Pacioli to flourish in their own art and science (read more).
