Urbino

Whenever possible I park the RV in a place where the view of Urbino from our dining table is as grandiose as can be imagined. During our second and third visits we stopped in the parking lot below the Palazzo Ducale, and had lunch with a fantastic view of the twin, slim round towers of the Palace high above our lunch spot. After a bountiful lunch, one year we chose to climb the many flights of stairs, the other year we wended our way up one steep street after another, to the Palace, the cathedral, and to Urbino’s Piazzale Roma.

As we walked into Urbino on our first visit, we found ourselves walking down Via Raffaello, an extremely steep street (under repair with stinky, sticky tar), and we remembered that we must walk up, just as far as we walk down. Well, to coin a phrase, our eyes were almost bigger than our feet, but we did make it back to the Strada Panoramica (City View) with a view of the city even Kodak had trouble reproducing. We demand some reasonable association between effort and excitement, even while sightseeing. We must make sure our spirit of adventure, does not exceed our gumption for walking.

About half way down the steeply slanted Via Raffaello, we stopped to visit Casa natale di Raffaello, the birthplace of the painter and architect Raffaello. He was born in Urbino and lived here to the age of 14. A major portion of the Vatican Museum is called Stanze di Raffaello (The Raphael Rooms), and in 1514, Raphael became chief architect of Saint Peter's Basilica. He died at the age of 37, and was buried in the Pantheon in Rome.