S.Bernardino - Mausoleo dei duchi

A building of worship in Renaissance Urbino

Commissioned by Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, the Church of San Bernardino was built between 1482 and 1491 outside the city walls. Designed by ducal architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini, the structure was created as a family mausoleum for the duke and his successors. 

Devoid of significant decorations on the outside, the Renaissance-style building boasts architectural volumes in all their beauty. The interior, built with a Latin cross layout, is covered by a barrel vault and, in the main nave, displays the cenotaphs - burial monuments - of the dukes Federico and Guidobaldo di Montefeltro added in the early 17th century.

The niche on the right is the only room decorated with a fresco portraying the scene of the Samaritan woman at the well, an episode taken from the Gospel. The choir area houses a painting by Girolamo Campagna depicting the “Madonna with Child and Saints”, a place occupied until the 19th century by Piero della Francesca’s Brera Altarpiece, now housed in the Milanese picture gallery of the same name.