FEDERICO da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. Born in Gubbio in 1422, son of Guidantonio; died in Ferrara on 10 September 1482. In 1444 he succeeded his brother Oddantonio, who had been killed by the people of Urbino. He received from Pius II the investiture of lands taken from Sigismondo Malatesta (1464).
Captain-general of the Italian League, he fought against Colleoni at Molinella (1467). Sixtus IV appointed him captain-general of the Church and conferred upon him the title of duke (1474). In 1482 he led the league against the Venetians and the Pope. He made the ducal palace of Urbino, which he had built and endowed with a celebrated library, a center of humanistic culture.
BIBL.: Works: F. da M., *Lettere di Stato e d'arte* (1470–80), published for the first time by P. Alfieri. Rome 1949. Studies: Vespasiano da Bisticci, *Vite*, ed. L. Frati, I, Bologna 1892, pp. 265–268; F. Ugolini, *Storia dei conti e duche d'Urbino*, I, Florence 1859, pp. 205 ff.; Vittorio E. Giuntella.