The Residence and Resting Home La Villetta is situated in the Marche at the heart of the hills of Montefeltro in the province of Pesaro and Urbino; it is located 500 m from the historical center of the renaissance city of Urbino.
Urbino is located on two hills at an altitude of 490 m and 30 km from Pesaro and the A14 highway. The origins of Urbino are ancient and surely the golden period was the renaissance when the Montefeltro ruled the ducky and Federico III who from 1444 to 1482 made of Urbino the center that stands out from the Italian renaissance culture.
The famous Ducal Palace of Urbino was the dwelling of the Muses for Federico III of Montefeltro who called upon the best artists and architects at the time. Among them Piero della Francesca, Luciano Laurana, Leon Batista Alberti and Francesco di Giorgio Martini. An important court in which Raffaello and Bramante could begin their successful careers. The splendor and richness of the time has been kept till today and still lives through the architecture well maintained of the historical center.
With the end of the Montefeltro rule and with the passage to della Rovere, Urbino was able to maintain its splendour gathering musicians, set designers, artists and literaries. With the transfer of the seat of the dukedom to Pesaro, Urbino saw its name diminish with respect to littoral centers up until the beginning of the XVIII century where after the election of the Pope Clemente XI, he was able to give a new face to the city. Son of the Alban Prince, Clemente XI promoted, with his patronage, religious and civil buildings of Urbino, making it resurface from its obscure period especially during the turn over to the church in 1631.
The Ducal Palace of the end of the XV century is one of the maximum expressions of renaissance architecture in Italy and Europe. Work of Luciano Laurana, Francesco di Giorgio Martini e Girolamo Genga, the Ducal Palace of Urbino is famous all over the world for its façade where 2 towers stand out that are headquarters to the National Gallery of the Marche. Great works of Pedro Berruguete, Raffaello, Paolo Uccello, Piero della Francesca, Luciano Laurana and Federico Barocci.
In front of the Ducal Palace is the Duomo, neoclassical. Among churches surely the Oratory of St. Giuseppe with its suggestive stucco, the Church of St. Joseph the Baptist rich of prayer allowing frescoes, the gothic church of St. Agostino, you may also visit the birth house of Rafaello instituted in 1869.
During the occupation of Cesar Fano and remembered as the Fanum Fortunae during 49 a.C. name that most probably refers to a “Time of fortune” built as testimony of the battle of the Metauro 207 a.C. where the roman legions where able to barricade the path of Carthaginian Hasdrubal that intended to rejoin his brother Annibale with his elephants through the Alps.
During the roman period Fano experienced a considerable growth due mainly to its position along the Flaminia road that went to Rome from the valley of Tevere to Gallia Cisalpina. The city of Fano went through various historical events, from the plunder of Gothicism, the bombardment during the occupation of Napoleon’s troops then during the first world war by the Austrian naval fleet. Finally in 1945 Fano found itself along the Gothic line subject to bombarding from both ally planes and during the destructive German retreat.
In spite of this Fano still remains a splendid city with memorable monuments such as Arco di Augusto (Augusts Arc) and the ancient surrounding walls of different historical periods or the Malatestiana Rock.
To stride along the valley of Metauro means to discover many small inhabited centers that follow one after the other through the valley floor climbing up the slopes and subtle hills to dominate the valley with their striking rocks. From Montefelcino, Serrungarina, Mondavio, St. Ippolito, Orciano the road up the valley arrives to Fossombrone, the major center of the mid valley of Metauro Fossombrone.
Fossombrone is characterized by a historical center with a medieval footprint dominated by ruins of the Malatestiana Rock and the citadel. The antique roman inhabited Forum Sempronii, along the famous Flaminia road (now in the St. Martino del Piano locality) had its period of splendor during the imperial era. Fossombrone enjoyed its following period of prosperity thanks to the blooming of wool, paper and silk production and the renewal of existing buildings.
The ancient Casteldurante, Urbania is a marker of excellence in its border territory next to Tuscany, Umbria and Romanga. Urbania is rich in monuments and famous all over the world for its ceramics adorned with precious scenes, an activity that is in bloom today thanks to the artisan shops.
Urbania presents buildings of high architectural regard. Among them rises the bulk construction of the Ducal Palace, residence of the Rovere, today a plentiful Communal Library, Civic and Rural Museum where you will find a collection of engravings and the world maps of the merchant. Surely to be seen is the Church of the Dead with its gruesome “Graveyard of the mummies” and the Diocesan Museum where a precious collection of ceramics is exhibited. Urbania is surrounded on three sides by the Metauro river and just as it goes up the valley, just as ancient nobles did, the Ducal Ship is found, splendid shooting lodge of the dukes of Rovere.
Still farther up the valley we find St. Angelo in Vado, a city famous for its truffle and the autumn fair (besides the nearby Acqualagna), the Marketplace on Metauro with it’s historical center well preserved together with its numerous small churches and ancient convents.
All centers born form the ancient dissolved with the organization of the roman territory that during difficult times learned within their own walls to grow and develop their own life. Places where it is easy to point out public palaces, the dedicated church to the patron Saint, ancient squares where markets and livestock fairs have always taken place, towers and fortalices. Let’s not forget the vast countryside branded by the lives and hard work of countrymen as well as the numerous handcrafts.
An ancient taste for a discreet glamour, striking and well preserved atmosphere where it is still easy to rediscover a past lifestyle through the narrow alleys or the name of a street that still know how to evoke past old customs. After all to visit are surely the many museums disseminated all over the territory of the Montefletro that collect and preserve the memories of our past.
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