Trips

Fri., 9/23/16 – Bologna and Urbino
        After breakfast today we walked to the train station, used the biglietti machine, bought two tickets to Pesaro, and boarded an 8:38 train.  At 10:45 we arrived in Pesaro on the Adriatic coast and bought bus tickets to Urbino at the tobacconist shop.  The “speedy” bus got us to Urbino in 45 minutes.  We arrived at noon.
        Urbino is a 15th c. hill town with the huge Ducal Palace of Duke Federico da Montefeltro in the center, a Duomo, and a university.  The city has a brick wall all around it and hilly, cobblestone streets.  Our #46 bus let us off 10 stories below the Porta S. Lucia – entrance gate.  For our convenience we took the elevator up the 5 stories of a parking garage, up an escalator to the COOP and shops on the 6th floor, and then another elevator up to the 10th story and the gate through the city wall.  We followed the “finger post” signs to the information center to get a map of the Urbino. 

Pesaro train station	View of the countryside from the Urbino bus stop
Urbino street scene - the town is very hilly	Sun dial
Church of San Domenico	Cathedral - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Cathedral - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in the Ducal Palace - the sign is advertising Titian's Venus Returns to Court
The Ducal Palace now houses the Galleria Nazionale della Marche.  We spent two hours inside looking at 15th c. religious art that was hung in the Duke’s living spaces.  The 30 large rooms on the first floor (second floor by American count) each had at least one large fireplace, many had elaborate ceilings, but the best was the Duke’s small study.           The galleries include masterpieces by Raphael, Piero della Francesca, Titian, and other less famous artists.	Galleria Nazionale delle Marche
	The walls of the Duke’s small study are covered with inlaid wood depicting 3-D books, musical instruments, music scores, scientific instruments, weapons, and historical people.  Much of it looks like open cases or book cabinets.  It is the main attraction of the Gallery.
Ceiling of the Duke's study	Inlaid wood in the Duke's study
Inlaid wood in the Duke's study	Inlaid wood in the Duke's study
Inlaid wood in the Duke's study	Inlaid wood in the Duke's study
Inlaid wood in the Duke's study	Doors of inlaid wood
Doors of inlaid wood	Huge fireplaces
Mosaic tiles	Galleria Nazionale delle Marche
Coat of arms of the Duke of Montefeltro	By the time we finished in the Gallery, it was 2 PM and we were hungry so we walked down to Piazza della Republica and ate pizza and salad at Deliziose Folli, sitting outside watching people walk by. Since the Cathedral (Duomo) was not open unless you paid to go through another religious art gallery, we decided to head home.
Cafe Deliziose Folli	Chimneys of the Ducal Palace
Statue of St. Crescentino, the patron saint of Urbino	More modern buildings
The train station, again	We took the 4:30 bus back to Pesaro and got the 5:58 fast train to Bologna.  We were back at our hotel by 8 PM.  Urbino is a special hill town and was worth the day trip.

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