The symbol of the Terra del Duca is Federico da Montefeltro (Gubbio 1422-Ferrara 1482), the “duke” par excellence, well-known throughout the world in the famous portrait by Piero della Francesca.
A tireless condottiere, a great humanist, a patron of the arts, a diplomat, a religious man and the creator of a State that was trebled in size compared with the area his ancestors had passed down to him, Federico da Montefeltro ruled the Dominion of Urbino for thirty-eight years.
He came at the end of an ancient tradition created by his ancestors -princes who were condottieri and princes who were patrons of the arts – and was the starting-point for the foundation of a State that was destined to last until 1631.

The heart of the Terra del Duca is the Ducal Palace, which Federico da Montefeltro had built in several stages in the second half of the 15th century, stretching out over a large part of a hill near the house of his ancestors.
The bold facade with its two towers demonstrates, to all those who come up to it, the might of Federico and reveals little of the gentle side of the building facing towards the square
– the heart of the town - almost as if to symbolise the two sides of the lord of Urbino:
the tough condottiere and the wise ruler.

The "palace in the shape of a town", as Baldassarre Castiglione says, drew the enthusiastic admiration of his contemporaries and continues today to testify to the long, wonderful period of Humanism in Urbino when, through the will of its lord, the court was host to the most famous men of letters and artists of the time.