Palazzo Ducale di Pesaro

Pesaro's Ducal Palace occupies one side of Piazza del Popolo. Developed from earlier Malatesta and Sforza residences, it became the administrative centre of the Duchy of Urbino after the court moved to Pesaro in 1564. Its rooms retain architectural and decorative traces of the della Rovere period.

Why it matters

The palace was the second centre of the Duchy of Urbino, and its history reflects the succession of ruling families in Pesaro. Alessandro Sforza gave the building its façade on the main square in the mid-fifteenth century. The della Rovere dukes later enlarged it, with work spanning the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Many paintings once held here left with the family after the dynasty ended in 1631, while the palace's architecture and room decoration remain.

What to notice

The Salone Metaurense has an octagonal coffered ceiling, made around 1616 for Francesco Maria II and decorated with della Rovere emblems. The small studiolo known as the Bagno di Lucrezia is traditionally attributed to Taddeo Zuccari. Federico Brandani's stucco work appears on the fireplaces. The façade on Piazza del Popolo has a six-arch portico and a piano nobile with crowned, garlanded windows; its battlements were restored in the early twentieth century.

Context and history

The building incorporates residences of the Malatesta and Sforza lords who ruled Pesaro before the della Rovere. The palace reached roughly its present scale through rebuilding and enlargement between 1523 and 1621. In 1621, Federico Ubaldo della Rovere married Claudia de' Medici. After Francesco Maria II died in 1631, the duchy passed to the Papal States, and many artworks were taken to Florence. Cardinal legates used the palace in 1631–1797 and again in 1815–1861; after Italian unification it became the Prefecture. It remains state-owned and managed by the Prefecture of Pesaro and Urbino.