Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
INDICE
6-15 Introduzione
Presentazione 7
Storia 10
84-87 Enogastronomia
I piaceri della tavola 85
CONTENTS
6-15 Introduction
Presentation 8
History 13
Presentazione - Presentation
Storia - History
In alto: Girolamo Cialdieri ed aiuti, Vergine col Bambino e Santi, particolare con la veduta di
Sassocorvaro e della piana di Mercatale
Top: Girolamo Cialdieri and assistants, Virgin and Child with Saints, view of Sassocorvaro and
Mercatale Plain (detail)
14 storia - HISTORY
neatly laid out street connects the jurisdiction of Urbino. Following the
Ubaldini Fortress to the Collegiate fierce battles opposing the Ghibel-
Church of St John the Baptist, slicing line faction, led by Guido da Monte-
the old town into two sections. It is feltro, and the Guelph faction loyal
lined with most of the town’s fin- to the pope, Urbino was stripped of
est buildings, while a series of nar- Sassocorvaro and the latter came
row stepped alleys depart from it, under the control of the Abbey of
connecting the town centre to the Casteldurante. In the first half of the
underlying lakefront with the so- 14th century, the town was subject-
called cantoni (cantons). Ever since ed to the powerful Brancaleoni fam-
being founded, Sassocorvaro was ily, who wielded power with a sever-
always fiercely contested up to the ity that antagonised the population,
Medieval and Renaissance periods. leading them to lose the fief several
This was due to its strategic posi- times during the century. During the
tion overlooking the Foglia River val- 15th century, Sassocorvaro became a
ley and its proximity to the blurred coveted prey of the Montefeltro and
territorial boundaries of the local Malatesti families, the former from
seigniories, particularly those of Urbino and the latter from Rimini.
the Malatesti and the Montefeltro. Wars and pillages ensued, culminat-
In the 13th century, the territory of ing in the defeat suffered by Sigis-
Sassocorvaro was ruled by the local mondo Pandolfo Malatesta at the
Berardini family and fell under the hands of Federico da Montefeltro,
during the battle of the Cesano River varo until the death of Giovan Tom-
in 1463, when ‘... the eagle (emblem maso, the last male member of this
of the House of Montefeltro) pecked branch of the family, in 1626. The
out the heart of the elephant’ (em- territory of Sassocorvaro was there-
blem of the House of Malatesta). fore re-annexed to the Papal State,
Following this battle, Sassocorvaro a fate shared by the entire Duchy of
became a permanent possession Urbino in 1631, following the death
of the House of Montefeltro. In of its last duke, Francesco Maria II
1474, Pope Sixtus IV Della Rovere – Della Rovere. Following the annexa-
through the intervention of Federico tion of Sassocorvaro and the State
da Montefeltro – granted the county of Urbino to the Papal State, the
of Sassocorvaro to Ottaviano de- territory was administered by the
gli Ubaldini della Carda, one of the apostolic legates representing the
most extraordinary figures of the pope, until the Italian Unification.
Italian Renaissance period, almost
an alter ego to Federico da Mon-
tefeltro and apparently the latter’s
step-brother, according to many. Ot-
taviano was behind the construction
of the imposing fortress bearing his
name. Among the finest examples of
Renaissance architecture, the work
stems from the genius of Sienese
architect Francesco di Giorgio Mar-
tini. The county of Sassocorvaro re-
turned to the House of Montefeltro
in 1498, when Ottaviano died with-
out leaving heirs. Following the brief
period of Cesare Borgia’s invasion
of the state of Urbino in 1502, the
family’s extinction with the death
of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro in
1508, and the Della Rovere family
taking over the state of Urbino, in
1510 Francesco Maria I Della Rovere
granted Sassocorvaro to a branch of
the Doria family from Genoa. The
House of Doria governed Sassocor-