We left
Rimini today and headed for Gradara where we saw the castle of Gradara. Something
special about this fortress is that it did not just have one surrounding wall,
but two so it was especially protected. The castle is located on the border of
Emilia Romagna and the Marche regions of Italy and was commissioned by
Malatesta. Throughout the castle we could see the Sforza family’s symbols; the
Sforza’s occupied the castle for a long period of time; but we could also see
many influences of Malatesta like a painted M
throughout the castle. One of the tales that comes along with this castle was a
Romeo and Juliet story between Francesca and Paulo. It is said that Francesca’s
husband found her and Paulo kissing in Francesca’s chamber and then killed both
of them. I found Gradara to be a very quaint castle town; it had a gorgeous
view of the surrounding area and the castle was very well kept.
After
Gradara we travelled to Urbino which again was a medieval town. The name Urbino
means a city built on two hills, which in fact it was. One side of town was the
more medieval part of town and the other side was where the Ducal Palace was
and where most of the modern activity occurs. When we first entered the walls
of Urbino, we saw the Jewish Synagogue which was used in ancient times and
still today. It was a fairly important part of the city as there was a large
Jewish population. Walking through the city to get to the Ducal Palace you
really felt like you were in a medieval town (until you reached the renaissance
part of course); the roads were very narrow (really meant solely for walking)
and the buildings just had a certain feel to them; I found it rather charming
to walk through. When we entered the Ducal Palace we were immediately put in to
an important courtyard where we could see inscriptions about Federico
Montefeltro and some of the important ways of life like religion and peace. Once
we entered the first floor of the Palace we first saw a room with a nicely
decorated fireplace, ceiling, door frames and window frames. On the ceiling,
not only in this room but of most, there was an eagle surrounded by the sun
which was a very important symbol to the city of Urbino. Again, I found most of
the room decorations to be very intriguing. One thing that we saw throughout
the Palace was wood decorations; specifically in one room. One room was
basically a wooden mosaic; it was a beautifully crafted room with pictures made
of small pieces of wood. It was made by Venetian artists who were
perfectionists and you can really tell; the different shades of wood to create the
pictures on the wall was absolutely stunning. Not only was there this room, but
throughout there were also tables and doors that were beautifully crafted too. We
saw one of the most important paintings of the city called The Ideal City. It was a decorative painting that displayed a town
with nobody in it, just a serene cityscape with absolutely perfect perspective.
It was a stunning painting.
Both
Gradara and Urbino were gorgeous fortress towns with lots of history. We ended
our day with another delicious five course Italian meal. While it may be a
little cooler than I had hoped for, we have been really lucky to have sunny
weather so far (which is a nice change from the rainy Lugano weather) and I
have really enjoyed our visits so far. I am looking forward to stay the next
couple of days in the country side and getting a taste of the less populated
areas we will be visiting.
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