URBINO, "drir4Wni!). A city in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, Italy, situated on a hill amid the eastern outliers of the Apennines, between the Metauro and the Foglia, 25 miles southwest of Pesaro (Map: Italy, G 4). The streets are narrow and tortuous, but gorgeous views are ob tained of the mountains and the Adriatic. The house in which Raphael was born is now fitted up as a museum, and belongs to the 'Reale Ac cademia Ratfaello.' The new cathedral is inter esting for its paintings. In the Church of Santo Spirito are noteworthy pictures by Luca Signo relli, and in the San Domenico are good reliefs by Luca della Robbia. The Oratorio della Con fraternita di San Giovanni Battista is a splen did structure. The famous ducal palace was erected in the fifteenth century. It is rich in in teresting sculptures and decorations, and has a collection of Roman inscriptions and a biblical picture gallery. The city has a free university,
founded in 1671, and an academy of fine arts. The celebrated library has been removed to Rome. Urbino manufactures silks, majolica, bricks, lime, oil, and cheese. There are in the vicinity sulphur and travertine quarries. Population (commune), in ISM, 16,812; in 1901, 18,307. Urbino, the ancient Urbinum, was an impor tant city under the Romans. It became very prosperous in the fourteenth century. Federigo da Montefeltre, who ruled from 1444 to 1482 and who was elevated by the Pope to the dignity of Duke of Urbino in 1474, maintained a magnificent court, built the palace, and made the city a centre of science and art. During the sixteenth century, under the Della Rovere family, 'Urbino was im portant in the manufacture of majolica. It was a Papal possession from 1626 to 1860.