During the second half of the fifteenth century, URBINO was one of the most prestigious courts in Europe, ruled by the remarkable Federico da Montefeltro, who employed some of the greatest artists and architects of the time to build and decorate his palace in the town. Baldassarre Castiglione, whose sixteenth-century handbook of courtly behaviour, Il Cortegiane (The Courtier), is set in the palace, reckoned it to be the most beautiful in all Italy, and it does seem from contemporary accounts that fifteenth-century Urbino was an extraordinarily civilized place, a measured and urbane society in which life was lived without indulgence.

Nowadays Urbino is Marche's most immediately likeable town, saved from an existence as a museum-piece by its lively university. There's a refreshing, energetic feel to the place, plenty of conducive places to eat and drink, and, although its nightlife is hardly wild, there are a few music bars hosting local bands and the like