Barco Ducale, Renaissance hunting villa in Urbania, Italy

Barco Ducale is a former hunting park in Urbania, once called Casteldurante. At its centre stands a church in the form of a Latin cross, set within a large building that housed the former convent; the complex took this shape after works completed in the second half of the 18th century. Above the high altar hangs a 16th-century wooden crucifix, flanked by two stone portals opening onto the wooden choir behind.

The site began in the 13th century when Franciscans from Castel delle Ripe, after their town was destroyed in 1277, founded a hermitage dedicated to St John the Baptist on land given by the Brancaleoni counts. In 1465 Duke Federico da Montefeltro had Francesco di Giorgio Martini build his hunting casino nearby. The convent was remodelled over the centuries, taking its present Latin-cross form in the second half of the 18th century.

Inside, a wooden crucifix from the 1500s hangs above the main altar, with stone doorways framing the wooden choir behind it. These religious elements show how important spiritual life was to those who lived here.

The church sits at the centre of a large building that housed the former convent, with a Latin-cross plan and two stone portals flanking the main altar that lead to the wooden choir behind. The sacristy occupies the space first planned as Federico da Montefeltro's mausoleum, where work by Francesco di Giorgio Martini and Gerolamo Genga is still visible. The church organ, built in 1854 by the Paoli brothers of Campi Bisenzio, is no longer working.

The sacristy occupies the space originally planned as Federico da Montefeltro's mausoleum; traces of the work of Francesco di Giorgio Martini and Gerolamo Genga remain visible there. The church organ, built in 1854 by the Paoli brothers of Campi Bisenzio, is no longer working.