DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0093
CHAPTER V
1504
Urbino — The court of the Montefeltro princes — Castiglione's
description — Reign of Duke Federico — His character and
paternal government—Patronage of art and letters—The
palace of Urbino — Its present condition — Contemporary
accounts—Giovanni Santi and Antonio di Mercatello—The
ducal library —- Artists employed at Urbino — Piero della
Francesca, Melozzo da Forli, and Justus of Ghent.
' ON the slopes of the Apennines, almost in the centre
of Italy, towards the Adriatic Sea, there lies, as every
one knows, the little city of Urbino. Although
situated in a mountainous region, less pleasant it may
be than some that we may have seen, it is favoured by
Heaven in that the country is exceedingly fertile and
rich in fruits of the earth. And besides the pure and
health-giving air of the region, all things necessary
for human life are to be found here in great abund-
ance. But among the greatest blessings which it
enjoys, this I count to be the chief, that from remote
times it has always been governed by the best of
Princes, although, in the universal calamities of Italy
during the recent wars, it was deprived of them for a
timeU
In these words Castiglione describes the city which
he entered in Guidobaldo's train, in September, 1504,
and which his eloquent prose has rendered immortal.
i ' Cortegiano/ i. 2.
5f
4—2
1504
Urbino — The court of the Montefeltro princes — Castiglione's
description — Reign of Duke Federico — His character and
paternal government—Patronage of art and letters—The
palace of Urbino — Its present condition — Contemporary
accounts—Giovanni Santi and Antonio di Mercatello—The
ducal library —- Artists employed at Urbino — Piero della
Francesca, Melozzo da Forli, and Justus of Ghent.
' ON the slopes of the Apennines, almost in the centre
of Italy, towards the Adriatic Sea, there lies, as every
one knows, the little city of Urbino. Although
situated in a mountainous region, less pleasant it may
be than some that we may have seen, it is favoured by
Heaven in that the country is exceedingly fertile and
rich in fruits of the earth. And besides the pure and
health-giving air of the region, all things necessary
for human life are to be found here in great abund-
ance. But among the greatest blessings which it
enjoys, this I count to be the chief, that from remote
times it has always been governed by the best of
Princes, although, in the universal calamities of Italy
during the recent wars, it was deprived of them for a
timeU
In these words Castiglione describes the city which
he entered in Guidobaldo's train, in September, 1504,
and which his eloquent prose has rendered immortal.
i ' Cortegiano/ i. 2.
5f
4—2