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Walled Cit ies & Open Societ ies:

Managing His tor ic Wal ls in Urban

Wor ld Her i tage P roper t ies

Siena, I ta ly. 26-27 January 2017

Urbino ( I taly)

Walled Cities & Open Societies – Managing Historic Walls in Urban World Heritage Properties

Siena, Italy. 26-27 January 2017 (page 2)

C i t y B a c k g r o u n d I n f o r m a t i o n

The Historic Centre of Urbino was inscribed in 1998 in the UNESCO World Heritage List on the base of

the following selection criteria established by the World Heritage Committee:

Criterion (ii) “To exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural

area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town planning or

landscape design;

“During its short cultural pre-eminence, Urbino attracted some of the most outstanding humanist scholars

and artists of the Renaissance, who created there an exceptional urban complex of remarkable

homogeneity, the influence of which was carried far into the rest of Europe.”

Criterion (iv) to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble

or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;

“Urbino represents a pinnacle of Renaissance art and architecture, harmoniously adapted to its physical

Site and to its medieval precursor in an exceptional manner.”1

The UNESCO Site “Historic Centre of Urbino” coincides with the area defined by the Renaissance walls

that are still integrally preserved. Inside the historic town, the Site includes a number of buildings of

outstanding quality such as the Ducal Palace, the Cathedral, the Monastery of Saint Chiara and a

complex system of “Oratori”.

The origins of the town date back to a Roman settlement located on the top of the hill where at present

rises the Ducal Palace. The town was confined within these limits until the 11th century; at the end of that

century Urbino began to grow and a new system of defensive walls was necessary. At mid 15th Federico

di Montefeltro drastically renewed the town keeping almost unchanged its urban structure. The town

delimited by the Renaissance walls expanded up to the second northern hill and acquired an elongated

shape.

Urbino is a small hilly town that during the Renaissance reached a very high cultural level, became the

destination of scholars and artists from Italy and other regions and was a reference for cultural

development in Europe.

Some of the most important humanists of that time such as Leon Battista Alberti, Marsilio Ficino, Giovanni

Bessarione; mathematicians like Paul van Middelburg and prominent artists such as Luciano Laurana,

Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Paolo Uccello, Piero della Francesca and Antonio Barocci convened at the

Court of Federico III di Montefeltro (1444-1482) to develop unique cultural and architectural projects.

Raffaello, Donato Bramante and the mathematician Luca Pacioli were raised in this cultural climate.

1 The criteria for the inscription of the Historic Centre of Urbino are also available at the following links::

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/828

http://www.sitiunesco.it/urbino-il-centro-storico.html

http://www.rivistasitiunesco.it/sito.php?id_sito=30

http://www.sitiunesco.it/urbino-il-centro-storico.html



This criterion (ii) and (iv) concerns the symbolic values of Urbino’s architecture and urban system,

expressed in different stages of its historical and artistic development. The richness of an urban context

does not result from the juxtaposition of its single architectures but from their interrelation in space and

time, according to relationships of co-existence.

The issue becomes more complex and sensitive when it isseen with reference to the size of the Historic

Centre of Urbino surrounded by its walls.

In this case, each new architectural intervention must take into consideration the human scale in order

not to alter a subtle balance of relationships. Any new architecture (when possible) before “to say”

something should “listen”: i.e. recognize the spirit of the place and then interpret it with its own voice.

New architectures should be grafts on existing matrices, and completions, removals, careful functional

changes, minimal thoughtful interventions rich in meanings. The history of Urbino shows that a specific

characteristic of the town is the ability to integrate and amalgamate architectures of a given historical

period with the preceding ones, avoiding fractures and contrapositions.

COMUNE DI URBINO Ufficio UNESCO - Decoro Urbano – Igiene Urbana

via Puccinotti n. 33 - tel. 0722 3091 - fax 0722 309457

web site http://www.comune.urbino.ps.it/

P.E.C. [email protected]

facebbok: https://it-it.facebook.com/citta.diurbino/

http://www.comune.urbino.ps.it/mailto:[email protected]://it-it.facebook.com/citta.diurbino/



This document has been drafted by the City of Urbino. Authors are responsible for the choice and the

presentation of the facts contained in this paper and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not

necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization.

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