Duchy of Urbino
The Duchy of Urbino was a sovereign state of central-northern Italy.
The first lords of Urbino were the House of Montefeltro, who obtained the title of counts from Emperor Frederick II in 1213. The first Duke was Oddantonio, who received the title from Pope Eugene IV in 1443. The duchy's territories occupied approximately the northern part of the modern region of Marche: they were bordered by the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Republic of Florence in the west and by the Papal States southwards.
In 1523 the capital was moved to Pesaro. After the short rule by Cesare Borgia in 1502–08, the dukedom went to the della Rovere papal family, who held it until 1625, when Pope Urban VIII annexed it to the Papal States as Legazione del Ducato di Urbino (later Legazione di Urbino).
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Urbino
Urbino (Italian: [urˈbiːno]; 
listen ) is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482. The town, nestled on a high sloping hillside, retains much of its picturesque medieval aspect, an illusion only slightly broken by the large car parks below the town. It hosts the University of Urbino, founded in 1506, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Urbino. Its best-known architectural piece is the Palazzo Ducale, rebuilt by Luciano Laurana.
Geography
The city is located in a predominantly hilly area, at the foothills of the Northern Apennines and the Tuscan-Romagnolo Apennines. The city is in the southern area of Montefeltro, an area classified as medium-high seismic risk. In the database of earthquakes developed by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, nearly 65 seismic events have affected the town of Urbino between 26 March 1511 and 26 March 1998. They include 24 April 1741, when the shocks were stronger than magnitude 8 on the Mercalli Scale, with an epicenter in Fabriano (where it reached 6.08 on the Richter Scale).
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