We continued our tour of the ducal palace of Urbino and came to a number of rooms dedicated to late medieval painting. Here we find large polyptychs from churches in and around Urbino. Sometimes the names of the painters are known, for instance in the case of Giovanni Antonio Bellinzoni…
Several car parks have been created around Urbino’s historical centre. One of these is the Parcheggio Mercatale. When we visited the town, it was not possible to park in the square itself, because it was filled with stands for the annual Festival of the Duke (Festa del Duca). The parking…
The church of San Francesco can be seen very well from the church of San Bernardino outside the centre of Urbino. From the latter church one has a good view of the apse and bell-tower of the building (image below). San Francesco is obviously dedicated to Saint Franciscus of Assisi…
Our visit to the church of San Domenico started with a lot of confusion. We were not so much interested in the church itself, but rather in an adjacent chapel where one could reportedly admire a fresco by the painter Ottaviano Nelli (ca. 1375-1444). Having previously enjoyed his work in…
The oratory of Saint Joseph was used by a lay fraternity whose main concern was caring for those who had been condemned to death. The first version of the building was erected between 1503 and 1515, and co-sponsored by Duke Guidobaldo da Montefeltro (1472-1508) and his wife Elisabetta Gonzaga (1471-1526).…
In the living room of our apartment in Fratte Rosa we found a number of brochures with information about the attractions in the vicinity. There was one brochure that immediately caught my attention because of a beautiful and colourful fresco of Saint John the Baptist on the cover. In a…
After my visit to the cathedral of Urbino, I am certain that I will receive a high seat in heaven. The reason? Well, I managed to reunite an unfortunate Italian with his wallet. This is what happened. While strolling through the nave of the immense building, I suddenly noticed an…
Our visit to Urbino started rather far outside the built-up area of the town. The church and convent of San Bernardino degli Zoccolanti, dedicated to the famous Franciscan preacher Saint Bernardinus of Siena (1380-1444), are situated on a hill to the east of the town. Although our travel guide spoke…
We parked our car close to the hospital of Fano, at a free car park named Parcheggio ex Foro Boario. We had been tipped about this car park by a friend who had previously visited Fano, and especially the aforementioned hospital. For reasons that are quite understandable she did not…
We had limited expectations when we visited the small civic museum in Fano, but were nevertheless pleasantly surprised. The museum is housed in the Palazzo Malatestiano, a fifteenth-century mansion that is a curious mixture of styles. It bears the name of the family that ruled over Fano between the second…
The Duomo of Fano or cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is intriguing rather than beautiful. My travel guide claims that the first version of the Duomo was built as early as the fourth century.[1] If this is correct, then this cathedral must have been destroyed during the Gothic War (535-554),…
The Roman origins of Fano have been preserved in the name of the town. Once Fano was called Fanum Fortunae. Fanum is the Latin word for a sanctuary, and this sanctuary was dedicated to Fortuna, the goddess of good and bad luck. The area around Fano had been inhabited since…
Fabriano’s paper and watermark museum is housed in the former monastery next to the fourteenth-century church of Santa Lucia (or San Domenico). We would have loved to have visited that church, as our travel guide promised gorgeous frescoes by the local painter Allegretto Nuzi (ca. 1315-1373). However, it also stated…
The enthusiastic volunteer in the cathedral of Fabriano was clearly happy that he had visitors from abroad in his building. He immediately embraced us and took us on a tour along the highlights of the Duomo. There were quite a few of those, or so our friendly guide believed. He…
The most famous painter from Fabriano is, of course, Gentile da Fabriano (ca. 1370-1427). Gentile’s talent and fame were so big that Pope Martinus V (1417-1431) summoned him to Rome to paint frescoes in the cathedral of San Giovanni in Laterano. In 1927, five hundred years after his death, he…
The principal reason to visit the small church of Santa Maria Maddalena first during our visit to Fabriano was the presence of a large and free car park in the vicinity. The Parcheggio del Torrione is an excellent spot to leave your car before starting a tour of this charming…
There was a lot of traffic on the road to Loreto, a small town some 20 kilometres south of Ancona. Here stands the Basilica of the Holy House of Mary, an important site for pilgrims. The infrastructure of the town was clearly created in an era when pilgrims still travelled…
In Antiquity, the charming town of Sant’Angelo in Vado was known as Tifernum Mataurense. The last part of the name referred to the position of the town along the river Metaurus (now the Metauro). Tifernum Mataurense became a municipium, a town associated with Rome, in the early first century BCE.…
From our pleasant agriturismo it was about 50 minutes by car to the charming town of Jesi, birthplace of the great medieval monarch Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1194-1250), a man who was both German and Sicilian, and who represented the cultures of both West and East. We approached Jesi from…
Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1194-1250) can be counted among the greatest monarchs spawned by the European Middle Ages. He was King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor, but also a crusader and a patron of arts and sciences, to name but a few of his other activities. His birthplace Jesi…