At 57, Via Raffaello, beyond the threshold of a sober Furlo stone portal, there is a noble XV Century building, the same where the first wails of newborn Raphael Sanzio resounded in the thick of a good Friday night, on March 28 1483. The building hosts nowadays the Raphael Academy and the museum of his natal house. At the ground floor there are the rooms dedicated to the atelier of artist Giovanni Santi, Raphael’s father; a staircase leads to the first floor, whose rooms include the Great Hall, the largest in the house, with the typical wooden coffer ceiling and the elegant XVI century hearth made with local stone. In the nearby room, where Raphael is supposed to be born, the charming, sweet fresco can be seen portraying the Madonna with the sleeping Child; a warm coloured work, pervaded by an almost divine light, precious because it shows the artistic nature Raphael grew since his childhood. On the same floor there are the kitchen, adorned with a simple hearth, and Giovanni Santi’s room, with an elegant sail-like ceiling which looks like being moved and shaken by the wind. Raphael and his spirit, his genius and creativity are immanent to Urbino, intrinsic to it and to the Renaissance ideals transported by Federico in his Ducal Palace. In 2020 the fifth centennial will fall of the Urbino artist death, and events will involve each corner, every place and work in which Raphael left the mark of his Renaissance artist.
Urbino