My knowledge of the region of Le Marche was a touch sketchy save for two things; the Ducal Palace of the city of Urbino (built from 1454), and the man who ordered its construction, Federico III da Montefeltro. Federico (born 7 June 1422) was lord of Urbino from 1444 (and was elevated to Duke in 1472), holding that position until his death on 10 September 1482.

He lost his right eye in a tournament and had surgeons remove the bridge of his nose to help him see better to thwart assassination attempts; a genuine concern in that period, especially as Federico made his living (and therefore that of his province) as a condottiero; the commander of a mercenary company. And apparently he was a good one too. He also cared about the welfare of his men, which inspired their loyalty. Similarly he cared about the people of Urbino, freely wandering and talking to them to hear any issues that they had. Overall he was a good man by all accounts, and I would have liked to have met him.

He was also a leaned man, as his palazzo demonstrated. Aside from the architecture (he advised his architects to build the stairs so that someone could walk up them without getting out of breath by employing the optimum gradient) and the expansive libraries, Federico commissioned works of intarsia (sections of wood laid into the solid wood of walls, doors etc) to create patterns using the then relatively new understanding of perspective. (This differs from marquetry which uses veneer overlays to create pictures in the wood. The more familiar term parquetry involves recurring patterns in the wood.) The result looked like genuine 3D images. These had been featured in the TV series Italy Unpacked, and it was an understatement to say that I was looking forward to seeing them for real.