UrbinoArticle Free Pass Urbino, Latin Urbinum Hortense, town,
Marche (the Marches) regione (region), central Italy. Founded by
the Umbrians, an ancient people of Italy, it was subsequently
occupied by the Etruscans, Celts, and Gauls and, in the 3rd
century bce, by the Romans. It eventually fell under church rule
in the 9th century but was ceded in the 12th century to the
Montefeltro family. It became the seat of a duchy and reached
its zenith as a centre of artistic and literary activity under
the rule of Federico da Montefeltro (1444–82) and that of his
son Guidobaldo (1482–1508). The artist Raphael was born in
Urbino (1483). The dukedom extended its domain under the rule of
the Della Rovere, who succeeded the Montefeltro, but the removal
of the court to Pesaro marked the beginning of the town’s
decline. The dukedom and its subject towns were incorporated in
the Papal States in 1626 and in the Kingdom of Italy in 1860.
The modern residential section, which developed outside the
walls, is distinct from the an