Urbino, one of the most important centers of the Italian Renaissance, still retains its artistic charm and architectural heritage. Adorned with sandstone buildings and surrounded by a long terracotta wall, Urbino is a city of immense historical and artistic richness. In 1998, Urbino earned the honor of entering the  UNESCO World Heritage List for being a point of attraction for the most illustrious Renaissance scholars and artists from all over Italy and the world, and for having influenced cultural progress in the rest of Europe, managing to keep its exceptional urban complex almost intact.

It’s known for its paper manufacturing industry and for watermarking, an invention introduced by master paper makers of Fabriano during the second half of the 13th century and boasting an invaluable artistic and cultural heritage passed on to the present day. UNESCO has included it in the list of Creative Cities because it has been able to make inventiveness and art the beating heart of its economic development. The history of Fabriano, after all, is inseparable from that of paper: here, the master papermakers made some of the finest sheets in the world. Retrace this centuries-old tradition at the Museum of Paper and Watermark, next to the Margherita Gardens, to discover everything about looms, fibers, felts, but also rare banknotes and papers made from the most unusual raw materials.

In 2017, it was recognised by UNESCO as a Creative City for Music, for the promotion and revival of Rossini's music, having been the birthplace of the famous composer Gioachino Rossini, who was born in Pesaro in 1792. It is famous for its musical tradition, the Conservatory, and the Rossini Opera Festival. Buildings of religious architecture include: the Cathedral, erected on the remains of a late Roman building, which boasts an interesting mosaic heritage; the Church of Sant'Agostino, which preserves a remarkable Gothic-Venetian portal on the façade and important paintings inside; the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie, built in the 13th century by the Malatesta family and rebuilt in Baroque style.

Casa Santi was the home of Giovanni Santi, poet and above all a good painter who gravitated around the court of Duke Federico da Montefeltro. It was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. Santi had bought it in 1460. He certainly could not have imagined that it would become a museum, moreover, dedicated to his son Raphael. According to tradition, Raffaello Santi, better known as Sanzio, was born in the museumized part of the house on March 28, 1483: the room where he would have seen the light is recognizable by the fresco of the Madonna and Child, which most critics consider one of his very first works.