URBINO, ARCHDIOCESE OF. – A city and archdiocese in the province of Pesaro, in the Marches. It has an area of 465 km² with a population of 47,000 inhabitants, all Catholic; it comprises 97 parishes served by 113 diocesan priests and 8 regular clergy; it has 2 male and 12 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 438).
The origins of this diocese are unknown: it may be traced back to the 4th century. It is uncertain whether an EVANDRO, who was present at the Roman Council of 313, can be assigned to Urbino (cf. Lanzoni, I, p. 503). A LEONTIUS, perhaps already mentioned by Pelagius I, was certainly sent by St Gregory the Great as visitor and administrator to Rimini (593–96), and the same office was entrusted to him by Sebastian in 599. A bishop Exilaratus is recorded in 680. At the beginning of the 11th century, a TEODERICO and then a TEUZONE are mentioned, the latter renowned for his piety, succeeded by MAINARDO, who is said to have received or stolen from Città di Castello the relics of a martyr Crescentianus (Lanzoni, I, p. 483). St Peter Damian addressed his De eleemosyna (opusculum IX) to him; he is venerated as a blessed. On 4 June 1563, when Cardinal Giulio della Rovere was bishop, Pius IV elevated Urbino to an archbishopric, assigning it the suffragan dioceses of Cagli, Senigallia, Pesaro, Fossombrone, Montefeltro, and Gubbio. In 1635 Urban VIII added Urbania and S. Angelo in Vado.
The first certain record of the cathedral chapter dates to 21 January 1069, when Bishop Mainardo confirmed to the canons, then numbering 12, the goods of the chapter’s table. The metropolitan church of Urbino, distinguished by its privileges and artistic treasures, is endowed with a notable musical chapel established by Duke Guidobaldo I in 1597, provided with a substantial patrimony. The ancient cathedral was the church of St Sergius the Martyr; in 1621 Bishop Teodoro transferred it, with the chapter, to its present site. In 1474 Duke Federico began the new construction of the Duomo. On 12 January 1789 the dome collapsed, sinking into the underlying Grotto Oratory, burying in its ruins notable works by various painters, as well as the precious high altar, a gift of Clement XI. The new Duomo was immediately rebuilt through the efforts of the architect Berioli according to a design by Valadier, and was inaugurated and consecrated on 8 September 1801. The temple is divided into three majestic naves; the two chapels of the Holy Master and of the Immaculate Conception are all that remain of the ancient building. The façade is by Camillo Morigi of Ravenna. In the Grotto Oratory the famous Christ of the Edict is admired. In the Oratory of the Holy Cross is seated the venerable Confraternity of the Disciplined of the Holy Cross, said to have been instituted in 1318. Two frescoes were admired there: one representing St Sebastian, attributed to Giovanni Santi, the other the Madonna and Child, a work by Ottaviano Nelli. In a fine ciborium the relics of the Passion are preserved. The Oratory of St John the Baptist dates to 1365, as attested by a bull in the Chancellery Archive. The interior of the Oratory was frescoed by the Salimbeni brothers of Sanseverino (1416). On the back wall is depicted the Crucifixion, on the side walls the life of St John the Baptist. In the church of St Dominic (14th century), the marvellous portal is the work of Tommaso di Bartolomeo called Massaccio, a Florentine (1406–56); the terracottas are by Luca della Robbia (1400–81). No precise memory survives of the foundation of the church of St Francis (13th century), in which the magnificent portico of the façade and the bell tower are the only remaining parts of the ancient construction, dating from the second half of the fourteenth century. The most important painting is that by Federico Barocci above the high altar, representing the Pardon of Assisi. The construction of the church of St Bernardino (15th century) and of the convent was begun by Count Guidantonio Feltrio in 1425, continued by his son Oddantonio, and completed by Duke Federico; there lie the tombs of Duke Federico, Guidobaldo I, and Elisabetta Gonzaga. In the territory of Urbino monastic life flourished in the Middle Ages in the three monasteries of St Sylvester at Secchieto, mentioned by St Peter Damian: the Benedictines were replaced by the Clarisses in 1258 through Alexander IV; St Angelo of Giaffa, assigned to the Olivetans in 1480; St Vincent at Pietra Pertusa (Badia del Furlo), recorded since the 10th century; St Peter Damian speaks of it in the life of St Romuald: the bishop of Urbino affiliated it to the monastery of Fonte Avellana (P. F. Kehr, Italia Pontificia, IV, Berlin 1909, p. 219).
Illustrious men of Urbino: first among them Pope Clement XI (Giovanni Francesco Albani; 1649–1721); Cardinal Francesco Uguccione Brandi; Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici; Cardinal Giulio Feltrio della Rovere; Cardinal Ulderico dei conti di Carpegna; Cardinal Gaspare Carpegna; Cardinal Domenico Riviera; Cardinal Annibale Albani; Cardinal Alessandro Albani; Cardinal Benedetto Veterani; Cardinal Giovanni Battista de’ Pretis; Cardinal Gianfrancesco Albani; Cardinal Giuseppe Albani; Cardinal Castruccio Castracane degli Antelminelli.
Among those noted for holiness are to be remembered as blessed the Franciscan tertiaries Giovanni Pelignotto (1240–1304); Antonio (1336–1421); Giovanni (1337–1439); Pietro Spagnoli (d. 1415); Pietro da Urbino (d. 1438); Donato (d. 1505); Gaspare Dondi (d. 1506). Also the blessed Sante Brancorsini (1343–94), the blessed Serafina Sforza (1434–78), and the blessed Benedetto Passionei, a Capuchin (1500–1625).
Among mathematicians Federico Commandino is remembered; among literary figures Bernardino Baldi, Raffaello Fabretti, and Polidoro Virgili. Particular importance in Italian artistic life attaches to the artists of Urbino. Suffice it to recall in painting: Raphael, Coradini known as Fra Carnevale, Giovanni Santi, Timoteo Viti, Federico Barocci. In architecture: Donato Bramante, Girolamo Genga.
THE DUCHY OF URBINO
A papal fief, already in the 8th century it was in the possession of the Church and was occupied by Desiderius, who intended thus to avenge the execution of
A sumptuous court, but to meet expenses he had to raise taxes, provoking discontent and revolts. The last duke was his son Francesco Maria II, who was compelled by Urban VIII to accept the devolution of the Duchy to the Church. This devolution took place at his death (1631), but as early as 1625 he had already almost entirely ceded power to a prelate who governed in his stead. Subsequently, and except for a brief interval during the French Revolution, Urbino followed the fortunes of the Papal States, until in 1860 it was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy. — See plate LXXXVI.