Urbino Events

Festa dell'Aquilone

On the first Sunday of September the districts of the town compete in a kite festival on the slope below the Albornoz fortress. It has run for well over a century, the kites are made locally to fixed rules, and it is the least touristic thing in the Urbino year — the whole town walks up the hill for it.

Festa del Duca

In the second half of August, three days of Renaissance costume, processions, flag-throwing and a market, staged around the palace. It is a reconstruction rather than a survival, and it is well done.

Urbino and the university year

Term runs from late September to June and is the real rhythm of the town. Graduation weeks fill the streets with families and laurel wreaths; the summer emptiness is the other half of the same fact.

Good Friday

The procession of the dead Christ, organised by the confraternities, winds through the steep streets by candlelight and is among the oldest in the region.

Summer concerts

The courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale is used for music through July and August, which is the best possible use of it.

Truffles in the valley

From late October the white truffle fairs run in the Metauro valley below the town, the largest of them at Acqualagna about half an hour away, which is one of the two or three main Italian markets for the thing.

Market day

Saturday morning, in the streets below the centre, and still the practical event of the week for the surrounding countryside; the Montefeltro villages each run their own sagra through the summer.