The small town of Urbino lies in the gentle rolling hills of Le Marche facing the Adriatic Sea, inland from Pesaro. A Unesco site since 1998, Urbino experienced a magnificent cultural renaissance in the 15th century thanks to the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro and his son Guidobaldo, evolving from a medieval village to a splendid princely courtyard attracting Italian and foreign artists and scholars, including Piero della Francesca, Leon Battista Alberti, Paolo Uccello, Baldassarre Castiglione and Pietro Bembo.

In the stimulating atmosphere of its ducal court, which influenced the rest of Europe, Bramante and Raffaello, who was born in Urbino, trained. When the court moved to Pesaro in the 16th century, the intense cultural and economic life of the city faltered, but this has allowed the town to preserve its exceptional art and architecture, now a symbol of the Renaissance.