The first leg of our southbound journey to Naples took us through Urbino, and its ducal palace. I think it is fair to say that Duke Federico III da Montefeltro of Urbino (7 Jun 1422 to 10 Sep 1482), who created the palace, was a bit of an egomaniac as you will see his name and / or portrait everywhere. (But only on the left side since he lost his right eye and nasal bridge in a disfiguring jousting accident.) I think it's also fair to say that by all accounts that I know of he was a very good man and leader. A man who cared deeply about art and knowledge and learning as well as his people and one who, had I been in Urbino in the mid to late 1400s, I would very much like to have met.

On the artistic side he had an office created for himself which was surrounded by wood inlay, such as we see here. No, this is not an actual closet. It is a flat wooden construction with all of the depth coming from trompe l'oeil effects. The craftsmanship has to be seen to be believed, and because the low light necessitates a high ISO I don't think many people would have sensors which could do it justice.

As with most of our stops, this one was far too short. The palace was about all we had time to see. We had very little time to explore the rest of the town, much less the eateries and local food shops. Actually we ended up with a little bit more than was intended, but we just couldn't use it. It's one of the problems of travelling on a group trip. The trip director made it clear exactly what time we needed to be back in the central square. One member of our happy band, who also went to the Ducal Palace, didn't turn up by the appointed time. Or half an hour afterwards. Of course, we can't leave without her and we can't go exploring any other part of town because we are behind schedule already and we have no idea how much time we have anyway until the tour director manages to find her. Which he did, an hour after we were due to depart. So essentially, an hour was wasted sitting around a square. It wouldn't have been a waste had we known that we had that extra time. But we didn't.