Urbino Geography & Climate

Urbino sits on a saddle between two hills in the Montefeltro, the broken upland country where the Apennines come down towards the Adriatic.

The two hills

The town occupies the ridge and both summits: the cathedral and the palace on one, the Albornoz fortress on the other, with the dip between them filled by the streets that make Urbino so relentlessly steep. The Palazzo Ducale is built into that slope, which is why it has three storeys on one side and five on the other.

The Montefeltro

The surrounding country is clay hills, oak woods and grain, with long views and very few straight roads. Scattered across it are fortified villages and the isolated rock outcrops that give the region its profile, the largest of them San Leo and the mass of Monte Carpegna to the northwest.

Calanchi

Where the clay is exposed it erodes into calanchi, the ribbed badland gullies that appear throughout the hills here and that make some slopes unbuildable.

Rivers

The Metauro and the Foglia run parallel to each other down to the coast, and Urbino sits on the watershed between them. Neither is navigable and both flood.

The sea

The Adriatic is about thirty-five kilometres east as the crow flies, visible from the fortress on a clear day, and psychologically much further: this is inland country and thinks of itself that way.

The Cesane

The wooded ridge of the Cesane runs between Urbino and the coast, planted with pine in the last century and now the town's nearest walking country.

Stone, brick and water

There is no good building stone here, which is why the town is brick, and why the palace's dressed stone had to be brought in. There are no springs on the ridge either: the historic centre depended on cisterns and on rainwater collected from roofs, which is why the palace has a water system under it.

Urbino is inland and high enough to be noticeably cooler and harsher than the coast thirty-five kilometres away.

Winter

Winter is cold, damp and often grey, with highs around 8°C and frequent frost. Snow falls most years and occasionally heavily; the roads into town are steep and are the first problem when it does.

Wind

The town sits on a ridge with nothing between it and the Apennines, and the wind is a real feature. The tramontana off the mountains in winter makes the streets considerably colder than the thermometer suggests.

Spring

Spring is slow to arrive and then very good: April and May are green, mild and clear, the hills are at their best, and the town is full of students.

Summer

July and August are hot and dry, with highs regularly above 30°C, but the altitude and the breeze make evenings pleasant in a way the Adriatic resorts are not. This is also when the students go, so the town is quiet.

Autumn

September and October are the best weeks of the year: warm, stable, with long light across the hills and the university back in session.

Rain and fog

Rainfall is moderate and spread through the year, heaviest in autumn and spring. Fog settles in the valleys below the town in the cold months and leaves Urbino sitting above it.

Compared with the coast

The rule of thumb is three or four degrees cooler than Pesaro at any time of year, with a later spring and an earlier autumn; heavy snow, when it comes to the Marche, reaches Urbino and often misses the beaches entirely.

What to bring

Shoes that cope with steep wet brick, and a layer more than you expect in any season.