What is Urbania known for?

One of the three great Renaissance maiolica centers (with Urbino and Pesaro), producing prized tin-glazed wares through the sixteenth century. Eighteen naturally mummified bodies in the Chiesa dei Morti, displayed since 1833, desiccated by a mold that drew moisture from the corpses. Summer residence of the Montefeltro and Della Rovere dukes, designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini from 1470 over the older Brancaleoni fortress.

Urbania is a comune in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, Marche region of Italy, about 80 kilometers from Rimini.

Marche · Pesaro e Urbino

Urbania

The Montefeltro ceramics town on the upper Metauro, known as Casteldurante until Pope Urban VIII gave it his name in 1636.

80 km / 50 mi

Nearest hub (Rimini)

6,836

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Urbania sitson the upper Metauro, thirteen kilometers downstream from Urbino. The original Ghibelline village was destroyed in 1277 and rebuilt seven years later by the Provençal Cardinal Guillaume Durand, who renamed it Castel Durante. The town passed to the Brancaleoni family in the fourteenth century and to the Dukes of Urbino in the fifteenth, who turned the Brancaleoni fortress into a summer Palazzo Ducale on plans by Francesco di Giorgio Martini from 1470 and used the river island as a hunting reserve, the Barco Ducale, fitted with a small church. Through the sixteenth century Casteldurante produced some of the finest maiolica of the Renaissance, traded alongside the Urbino and Pesaro workshops. Pope Urban VIII renamed the town Urbania in 1636 after his own name. The Chiesa dei Morti, just off the centro storico, preserves eighteen naturally mummified bodies displayed behind the altar from 1833, dried by a particular mold that drew the moisture from the corpses in the original graveyard.

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Gallery

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Known for

Palazzo Ducale
Summer Ducal Palace of the Montefeltro and Della Rovere on top of the Brancaleoni castle, begun on plans by Francesco di Giorgio Martini in 1470, completed by Girolamo Genga.
Barco Ducale
Hunting estate of the Dukes of Urbino, built 1465 with an attached Church of San Giovanni Battista, expanded 1594-1596 by Francesco Maria II Della Rovere.
Chiesa dei Morti e Cimitero delle Mummie
Former Cappella Cola, with a Gothic portal, holding eighteen naturally mummified bodies displayed behind the altar from 1833 after Napoleon's 1804 burial edict closed the church graveyard.
Bottega Storica di Ceramica Casteldurante
Active maiolica workshops continuing the Renaissance Casteldurante tradition, with a municipal collection in the Palazzo Ducale documenting the sixteenth-century production.
Centro storico sul Metauro
Medieval and Renaissance core arranged along the river, with the Cattedrale dei Santi Cristoforo e Vitale, the Porta Parco and the Loggia dei Mercanti.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the best months for Urbania. The upper Metauro stays green into early summer, the chestnut woods on the surrounding ridges turn in October, and the river island at the Barco Ducale is open for walking through both seasons. July and August touch the low thirties in the valley; the Palazzo Ducale courtyards stay cool, but afternoon shade is best sought in the porticoes of the centro storico. November through March is quiet and damp, with mist along the Metauro and the Chiesa dei Morti drawing a steady trickle of visitors who come for the mummies in winter light.