Free Walking Tour Urbino: Raphael, Piero and the Duke

Your Urbino Walking Tour, from the Fortress Park to Casa Santi

1. 1

   Fortezza Albornoz

   

   Begin with the easiest decision of the day. Around the fortress lies the Parco della Resistenza, a public park that opens daily and costs nothing, and walking it is already the free half of this stop. You see the fortress walls from outside and take the park at whatever pace you like; on a first visit to Urbino that is exactly the right amount of fortress.

   The upper fortress is a different matter. Individual visitors are admitted for a small fee only on certain days in season, and groups of at least 15 can arrange a visit in advance. Outside those days there is simply no individual entry, so check before you set your heart on it. If it is closed to you, treat the park as the stop and move on without regret: the money is better kept for the National Gallery of Marche.

   From here the route drops to the street below the fortress, where Urbino's two great confraternity oratories stand side by side. It is 430 m and about 7 min to the Oratory of Saint Joseph.

   Hours

   Surrounding park (Parco della Resistenza) open daily; upper fortress Fri–Sun 10:00–13:00, 15:00–18:00 (seasonal) or by advance booking for groups (min 15 people)

   Price

   1.50 EUR (free for students up to 14 years)

   Website

   urbinoservizi.it ↗

   Location

   Fortezza Albornoz on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Oratory of Saint Joseph

   

   This oratory is the home of the confraternity of Saint Joseph, founded at the beginning of the 16th century by the Franciscan friar Gerolamo Recalchi of Verona. Its first members met in rooms of the neighbouring Oratory of Saint John the Baptist, but around 1503 they wanted a house of their own. With the bishop's licence and money from Duke Guidobaldo I da Montefeltro and his wife Elisabetta Gonzaga, building ran from 1503 to 1515.

   What you visit today is largely a late 17th century church. The building leaned against the hillside and suffered badly from damp, so between 1682 and 1689 Orazio Albani paid for a complete rebuild. Only the crib chapel, made around 1550, survived. The builders also turned the church around: the high altar now stands where the entrance used to be, and the entrance where the altar was. The new altar, in fine marbles given by Cardinal Annibale Albani, was consecrated in 1729, and the chapel of the marriage of Joseph and Mary followed at the end of the 18th century.

   Look at the membership list and Urbino's history walks past you: the painter Timoteo Viti, the mathematician Federico Commandino, the architect Giuseppe Valadier, Duke Guidobaldo himself and Francesco Maria I della Rovere, even James Francis Edward Stuart. The Albani family, devoted to Saint Joseph, enrolled every member, and their gifts, above all those of Pope Clement XI and Cardinal Annibale Albani, made this one of the richest confraternities in Urbino.

   Admission is charged, and a combined ticket also covers the oratory next door. Go in if the crib chapel, rich Baroque marble and the Albani story appeal to you. The Oratory of Saint John the Baptist is only 10 m away, about a minute's walk.

   Local name

   Oratorio di San Giuseppe

   Hours

   Daily 10:00–13:00, 15:00–18:00

   Price

   4 EUR full, 3 EUR reduced (ages 9-18, groups 15+), 1 EUR school groups, free for under 9 and disabled; combined ticket with the Oratory of Saint John the Baptist 6 EUR full, 4 EUR reduced

   Location

   Oratory of Saint Joseph on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Oratory of Saint John the Baptist

   

   Of the two oratories this is the older by far. In 1365 the Lateran Chapter allowed Ugolino Finelli, a member of the confraternity of Saint John the Baptist, to build an oratory on the site of a hospital that cared for the sick and sheltered pilgrims. It was finished in 1393. Don't be fooled by the façade: its neo-Gothic look dates only from a radical restoration in the early 20th century, designed by Diomede Catalucci.

   Inside is the reason to come. Under the original wooden vault, shaped like the keel of a ship, the walls carry a great fresco cycle finished in 1416 and signed by the brothers Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni of San Severino Marche. The Crucifixion fills the wall behind the high altar; the stories of the life of John the Baptist run along the right-hand wall, which is the well preserved part. It is painted in the International Gothic style and counts among the finest examples of it in all of the Marche.

   On the rear wall you will find further scenes from the saint's life, but they are so fragmentary that both subject and painter are hard to read. Over time the confraternity absorbed others: that of Saint James the Apostle in the first half of the 19th century, and that of Saint Anthony Abbot in the 1920s, after its own oratory in Borgo Mercatale was demolished.

   If you choose only one paid interior before the gallery, choose this one. Then it is 480 m and about 9 min to the Ducal Palace, home of the National Gallery of Marche.

   Local name

   Oratorio di San Giovanni Battista e Sant'Antonio abate

   Hours

   Daily 10:00–13:00, 15:00–18:00

   Price

   4 EUR full, 3 EUR reduced (ages 9-18, groups 15+), 1 EUR school groups, free for under 9 and disabled; combined ticket with the Oratory of Saint Joseph 6 EUR full, 4 EUR reduced

   Website

   facebook.com ↗

   Location

   Oratory of Saint John the Baptist on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   National Gallery of Marche

   

   The gallery fills the Palazzo Ducale, the palace largely built under Federico da Montefeltro. Several architects worked on it, above all Luciano Laurana and Francesco di Giorgio Martini, and in the Renaissance it was called one of the most beautiful princely palaces in Italy, famous for a library without equal and endless collections of paintings, sculpture, small bronzes, silver, tapestries, painted leather and inlaid furniture.

   Almost none of that is still here, and the story of why is worth knowing. Cesare Borgia took the duchy by force in 1502 and scattered part of the collections, including Michelangelo's Sleeping Cupid, which went to Mantua and was later lost for good. The larger loss came in 1631, when the duchy passed to the Papal State: the agreement did not include movable goods, so they became the dowry of Vittoria della Rovere, the last of her line, on her marriage to Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

   What you see today was mostly gathered in the 19th century from churches and convents across the Marche. The highlight is Urbino's own Renaissance: two works by Piero della Francesca and paintings by the artists of Federico's court, then early 16th century works including Raphael, and 17th century paintings by Federico Barocci. The top floor holds a large ceramics collection, and rooms on the ground floor house the archaeological museum, rich above all in ancient inscriptions. Since 2014 the gallery has been one of Italy's state museums with special autonomy.

   This is the paid interior that matters most on the route, so give it time, around two hours if painting is your thing. Afterwards the cathedral is just 80 m away, about a minute.

   Local name

   Galleria nazionale delle Marche

   Hours

   Tue–Sun 08:30–19:15 (ticket office closes 18:15); Mon open 15:00–19:00 (ticket office closes 18:00, summer/autumn seasonal until mid-September, otherwise closed); closed 25 Dec, 1 Jan

   Price

   12 EUR full, 2 EUR reduced (EU citizens 18-25), free under 18 and first Sunday of the month; combined ticket with Gradara Castle (Rocca Demaniale) 16 EUR full, 4 EUR reduced

   Website

   gallerianazionalemarche.it ↗

   Location

   National Gallery of Marche on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Urbino Cathedral

   

   The cathedral is free to enter, and its story runs in layers. A first cathedral rose here in 1021, replacing an older one outside the walls. Federico da Montefeltro had it rebuilt in the 15th century to a design attributed to Francesco di Giorgio Martini, the same architect you just met in the palace, yet work dragged on until 1604.

   The front you see was designed by Camillo Morigia in stone from Furlo and finished in 1782. Count the five statues: Faith, Hope and Charity in the middle, Saint Augustine on the left and Saint John Chrysostom on the right. Only seven years later, on 12 January 1789, a powerful earthquake brought the cupola down. The rebuild went to Giuseppe Valadier, a member of the Saint Joseph confraternity, and was complete by 1801 in today's Neoclassical style.

   Inside, Valadier laid out a Latin cross with a nave between two aisles under a barrel vault, and the crossing carries an impressive coffered cupola. On its pendentives are the Four Evangelists, possibly by Domenico Corvi and Giuseppe Cades. Look for two canvases by Federico Barocci: a Saint Sebastian in the north aisle and a Last Supper in the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament. There is also an Assumption of about 1707 by Carlo Maratta, a Nativity of 1708 by Carlo Cignani, and Christopher Unterberger's main altarpiece with the Madonna between the city's patron saints.

   The cathedral is part of the Historic Centre of Urbino, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. From here it is 360 m and about 5 min to Raphael's Birthplace; on the way you pass the Museo Lapidario.

   Local name

   Duomo di Urbino

   Hours

   Daily 09:00–18:30

   Price

   Free

   Website

   arcidiocesiurbino.info ↗

   Location

   Urbino Cathedral on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   Raphael's Birthplace

   

   Raphael was born in this house in 1483. It was built in the 14th century, and from 1460 it belonged to his father, Giovanni Santi, a professional painter and also a poet. Later the building was split up and changed hands several times until the local architect Muzio Oddi bought and reunited it in 1637. In 1873 it became the seat of the Accademia Raffaello, founded in 1869 by Pompeo Gherardi to promote the study of the painter.

   The first floor is furnished with period pieces to give you the feel of a lived-in home. The main hall has a fine painted wooden coffered ceiling and paintings by Giovanni Santi; neighbouring rooms hold other works of the time, reproductions of Raphael's panels and the kitchen as it was. The room that stands out is the bedroom where Raphael was perhaps born, with the Madonna di Casa Santi, a Madonna and Child attributed to the very young Raphael and seen as the start of his famous series of Madonnas.

   Also on the first floor is a small courtyard typical of Urbino, with a well and the stone on which, as tradition has it, the colours for the family workshop on the ground floor were ground. Look out too for a drawing by Raphael, another attributed to Bramante, and a collection of Urbino Renaissance ceramics. The second floor, once the Academy's seat, keeps copies of Raphael's paintings, coins and 19th century portraits that tell the Academy's history, and in the Bottega di Casa Santi the Academy runs small shows of modern and contemporary art.

   Admission is charged, and it is well spent if you want to picture where Raphael started. This is the end of the route; if you want to return to the fortress, the GPS navigation leads you back to the start.

   Local name

   Casa Santi

   Hours

   1 Mar – 31 Oct: Mon–Sat 09:00–13:00, 15:00–19:00; Sun & holidays 10:00–13:00, 15:00–18:00. 1 Nov – 28 Feb: Mon–Sat 09:00–14:00; Sun & holidays 10:00–13:00, 15:00–18:00. Last entry 30 min before closing. Closed 25 Dec, 1 Jan

   Price

   5 EUR full, 4 EUR reduced groups (15+ adults), 2 EUR school groups, free under 15 (accompanied by adult)

   Website

   casaraffaello.com ↗

   Location

   Raphael's Birthplace on Google Maps ↗

Three Ways to Walk Urbino

The route is short, so the real choice is how many interiors you take on. Pick the version that fits your day and your budget.

The full art day

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

For anyone with a whole day and a love of painting. You walk all 22 min of the route and go inside the two oratories, the National Gallery of Marche and Raphael's Birthplace; the cathedral is free, and the fortress park as well. Plan about four and a half hours.

Urbino for free

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

For a tight budget or a first look. Walk the whole route, enjoy the fortress park, see the oratories, the Ducal Palace and Raphael's house from outside, and go inside only the cathedral, which is free. With 22 min of walking this takes about an hour and a half.

Frescoes, Piero and Raphael

Stops: 3, 4, 5, 6

For art lovers short on time. Start at the Oratory of Saint John the Baptist for the Salimbeni frescoes, then the gallery, the free cathedral and Raphael's Birthplace. The walking is 15 min (9, 1 and 5 min); entry is paid at the oratory, the gallery and Casa Santi. Allow about three and a half hours.

How Long This Urbino Tour Takes with the Gallery Inside

The order follows the story of the town: a fortress on the hill, two confraternities in the street below it, then the palace of Federico da Montefeltro, the cathedral he had rebuilt, and finally the house where the court painter Giovanni Santi raised his son Raphael.

Walking alone takes 22 min. The gallery is the stop that eats the day: give it around two hours. Add roughly 20 min for the fortress park, half an hour for both oratories, 20 min for the cathedral and 45 min for Raphael's Birthplace, and you land at about four and a half hours. The free version without interiors takes about an hour and a half, the art short cut about three and a half hours.

Before You Set Off in Urbino

• Start: The recommended start is Fortezza Albornoz, but you can join the route at any stop and follow it from there.
• End: The route ends at Raphael's Birthplace. If you want to return to the fortress, the GPS navigation in your browser leads you back to the start.
• Time of day: Set off early enough that the National Gallery of Marche gets the two hours it deserves before the ticket office closes.
• Admission: The fortress park and the cathedral are free. The upper fortress, both oratories, the gallery and Raphael's Birthplace charge admission; the two oratories share a combined ticket.

Common Questions before You Walk Urbino