ABSTRACT
On the slopes of the Apennines, almost in the center of Italy, toward the Adriatic Sea, there lies, as everyone knows, the little city of Urbino. Federigo Da Montefeltro, who was made a duke late in his life, and Guidobaldo, who succeeded him as ruler of the state of Urbino, were exceptional among the princes of their time. Judged by the standards of any age, they were both good men. They were not perfect, or without faults and flaws, as, of course, no man is. To the east, separating Urbino from the Adriatic was the state of the Malatesta, lords of Rimini, Cesena, Pesaro and Fossombrone, hereditary enemies of the Montefeltro. On the west, in the valley of the Tiber, were Assisi and Perugia. While Federigo was learning the condottiere’s craft, his promising younger brother inherited the state of Urbino in 1442.
