Palazzo Albani, Renaissance palace in Urbino, Italy

Palazzo Albani is a four-storey palace with a trapezoidal plan on the south-eastern slope of the Monte hill in Urbino. Its long south front on Via Donato Bramante follows a convex polygonal line, and the main portal sits off-centre near the south-east corner, aligned with the older quadrilateral courtyard. A large rectangular hanging courtyard opens in the centre, and exposed brickwork covers the façades and courtyard paving.

The palace was built in the second half of the 15th century by Albanian mercenaries and underwent major renovations in the early 18th century under Cardinal Annibale. These changes shaped the appearance we see today.

The Albani, mercenaries from Albania who had fought for Skanderbeg against the Turks, gave the palace its name. Cardinal Annibale Albani had the first and second piano nobile decorated with stuccoes, attributed by some to Vanvitelli, and frescoes by Carlo Roncalli, the family painter, and Alessio De Marchis, who painted landscape views beneath the windows and on the vaults. Roncalli painted the Four Seasons on the mirrored vault of the second-floor room at the corner of Via Bramante and Via del Balestriere; the Aurora once there has disappeared.

The university currently occupies the palace with administrative offices and academic departments, which are typically not open to the general public. Check local conditions or contact the university directly before planning a visit.

The stone balustrade of the hanging courtyard and a Roman bust on a small stone bracket were removed; a temporary steel tube railing by Innocenti now stands in place of the balustrade, a detail that marks the courtyards' poor state of conservation.