Guido I da Montefeltro - Lord of Urbino

Brilliant military strategist who suffered poetic damnation

Guido I da Montefeltro was a powerful
force on the side of the Ghibellines

Guido I da Montefeltro, the brilliant military strategist who consolidated the power of medieval Urbino but was famously consigned to Hell in Dante’s Inferno, died on this day in 1298.

A leading figure in the long-running power struggle between the pro-imperial Ghibellines and the pro-papal Guelphs in northern and central Italy, Guido achieved many notable battlefield victories, yet towards the end of his life became a Franciscan monk.

He is thought to have died and been buried at a monastery in Ancona, the coastal city some 75km (45 miles) southwest of Urbino, although this is disputed in some accounts, which placed him at the main Franciscan monastery in Assisi. He was around 75 years old.

Guido’s taking of Holy orders, by way of seeking redemption for the brutal military deeds by which he had inflicted so much suffering and loss of life, was at the heart of the poet Dante Alighieri’s decision to place him in Hell in the Inferno section of his epic narrative poem, the Divine Comedy, which he populated with many real people, historical and contemporary.

Only a few months before he died, Guido had been asked by Pope Boniface VIII, who had overturned a previous excommunication to admit him back into the Catholic Church, for advice on how to capture the fortress of Palestrina from the Colonna family, with whom he was in dispute. In return for a promised guarantee of absolution, Guido’s counsel was that Boniface should commit a deceit, to make promises but then renege.

Dante chose the episode to illustrate a profound theological point, that absolution cannot be bought, bargained for or granted in advance.

The Montefeltro family originally derived their name from the mountainous region of Monte Feltro, near Guido’s birthplace in 1223 at San Leo, a few kilometres northeast of Urbino.

Dante and Virgil confront the soul of Guido I da
Montefeltro in an illustration from the Divine Comedy

By the 13th century, the family had  positioned themselves as the dominant lords of Urbino. They funded their small, relatively poor state by renting out their highly disciplined armies and strategic military minds to major powers such as the Papacy, Florence, and Venice.

For generations, the family was locked in a brutal, bloody feud with the neighbouring House of Malatesta, the lords of Rimini. This rivalry dictated their shifting alliances with the Pope and other Italian states.

Guido I da Montefeltro, also known as Il vecchio (The Elder), was a pivotal figure who firmly established the family's reputation for military brilliance and political cunning.

His first notable military victories included the seizing of the city of Faenza in 1274, signalling his rise as a dominant warlord in the Romagna region, the Battle of Ponte San Procolo in 1275, in which he led a coalition of Ghibellines from Romagna, Bologna and Florence in a crushing victory over the Guelph forces, and the Battle of Raversano, a a decisive victory over the Malatesta of Rimini, which secured control of the towns of Cesena and Cervia.

Da Montefeltro (left) shown accepting
a commission to defend Forlì in 1282 

Guido’s tactical tour-de-force came in 1282 while defending the city of Forlì against a massive papal army led by French commander Jean d'Eppe, in which he allowed the enemy to breach the outer walls of the city and begin plundering the suburbs, then ambushed the enemy rearguard in a coordinated counter-attack that completely routed his numerically superior opponents.

Nonetheless, eventually Forlì fell to the papal forces, leading most of Romagna to submit to papal control. Guido accepted the authority of Pope Honorius IV in 1286.

Excommunicated in 1288, he became captain of the Ghibellines of Pisa. Over the next few years, he aided Pisa in its struggle against Florence, and the city of Urbino against Cesena.  He returned to Urbino in 1296, having been readmitted to the Church in 1296.

Good things in time emerged from the warlike behaviour of Guido I da Montefeltro and others. The wealth brought home from mercenary contracts was systematically funnelled into monumental architecture, world-class libraries, and the patronage of Renaissance artists and humanists.

This process culminated in the reign of Federico da Montefeltro as Duke of Urbino. Like his ancestor Guido, Federico was a brilliant military tactician and one of the most successful of all Italian condottieri. He launched a radical urban transformation after taking power in 1444.

Rather than tearing down the medieval fortress town, he meticulously introduced an architectural language of order, proportion, and perspective directly into the existing hillsides. The grand city walls added in the 11th century were eventually reinforced using modern designs, some of which were influenced by Leonardo da Vinci.

The defining achievement of this era is the Palazzo Ducale (Ducal Palace), in which the architects broke with tradition by eschewing the customary fortress design in favour of open, arcaded loggias, and its iconic twin towers. 

Federico used the vast fortune he earned as Italy’s most successful mercenary commander to finance a legendary court. He built one of the greatest libraries in Europe and hosted a brilliant circle of minds, including the painter Piero della Francesca, whose mastery of linear perspective anchored the Urbino school of art, the brilliant architect Leon Battista Alberti, and the court poet and painter, Giovanni Santi, father of the artist, Raphael.

The studiolo in the Ducal Palace with
its intricate inlaid wood panelling

Travel tip:

Urbino, which is 36km (22 miles) inland from the Adriatic resort of Pesaro, in the Marche region, is a majestic city on a steep hill.  It was once a famous centre of learning and culture, known not just in Italy but also in its glory days throughout Europe, attracting outstanding artists and scholars to enjoy the patronage of the noble rulers. The Ducal Palace - a Renaissance building made famous by Baldassare Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier - is now one of the most important monuments in Italy and is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site. Inside the palace, the National Gallery of the Marche features paintings by Titian and Raphael, and there are more examples of Raphael’s paintings at his house - Casa Natale di Raffaello.  One of many outstanding features of the palace is Federico da Montefelto’s studiolo (study). It is a masterpiece of intarsia (intricate wood inlay) that uses absolute perspective to create optical illusions (trompe l'oeil) of bookshelves, musical instruments, and classical texts, celebrating the intellectual passions of a humanist ruler.

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The Casa di Natale di Raffaele sits
on a steep hill in the city of Urbino

Travel tip:

The Casa Natale di Raffaello (Raphael's Birthplace), located at Via Raffaello, 57 in the steep artisan district of Urbino, is the 15th-century townhouse where the High Renaissance master Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) was born on Good Friday, 1483. Although open to the public as a museum, it is preserved as an intimate, authentic representation of a prosperous, middle-class Renaissance artist's home and workshop. The building is a substantial townhouse that reflects the prestigious social standing of Raphael's father, Giovanni Santi, who served as the official court painter and poet to Duke Federico da Montefeltro.  In 1635 - 115 years after Raphael’s death - the Urbino architect Muzio Oddi purchased and meticulously restored the home. In 1873, the building was officially acquired by the Accademia Raffaello and with generous financial help from the London nobleman, John Morris Moore, the Academy established its permanent headquarters inside the property, dedicated to transforming it into a study centre and historical house-museum. Today, visitors can wander through several historic floors, taking in original architectural elements, period furniture, and Renaissance artefacts.  The focal point of the house is the small room where Raphael was born. Painted directly onto the wall is a stunning, delicate fresco of the Madonna and Child, which the artist, architect and historian Giorgio Vasari documented as painted by  Raphael at around the age of 15, he was still studying under his father or his master, Perugino.

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More reading:

How Federico da Montefeltro was immortalised in a famous portrait

The precocious genius of Raphael

Francesco Maria II della Rovere, the last Duke of Urbino

Also on this day:

1901: The birth of nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi

1913: The birth of footballer Silvio Piola

1936: The birth of businessman and politician Silvio Berlusconi

1964: The birth of politician Giorgio Frassineti

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