Castello di Petroia

Castello di Petroia's origins date to the 9th or 10th century, when major towns like nearby Gubbio established fortified centers to defend the surrounding territory. The site is documented from 1072, and a notarial act from 1171 confirms the existence of "curtis Petroij." Starting in 1396, Petroia came under the protection of the powerful Dukes of Montefeltro as the southernmost fief of the Duchy of Urbino — and it was here, in 1422, that Federico da Montefeltro, future Duke of Urbino and one of the Italian Renaissance's most celebrated condottiere-patrons, was born.

The complex that survives today comprises three genuine historic buildings, all part of the same fortified medieval settlement: the Castellare Maggiore, dating to the 15th century, where the lords of Petroia resided from the 14th century onward and where Federico da Montefeltro was very likely born — today housing the restaurant, breakfast room, reception, library and nine suites; the Castellare Minore, also 15th-century, formerly home to the castle's guardian and family along with the stables; and the Mastio, a 12th-century tower rising 15 meters, built by the municipality of Gubbio to defend its independence, now home to a single special suite with a 360-degree terrace over the Petroia valley.

Federico da Montefeltro's birth at Petroia links this modest fortified settlement to one of the most consequential rulers and patrons of the Italian Renaissance, whose later court at Urbino became a center of humanist learning and the arts — a legacy that gives Petroia's otherwise regional medieval history an outsized historical resonance.

The three surviving buildings — Castellare Maggiore, Castellare Minore, and the Mastio tower — represent a genuinely integrated medieval complex rather than a single restored structure with a modern annex, a distinction that sets Petroia apart from many castle-hotels where guest accommodation extends into later, non-historic construction.

Gubbio's well-preserved medieval historic center, a short drive from Petroia, gives guests staying at the castle an easy pairing between the site's own Montefeltro-era history and one of Umbria's most intact medieval towns.