With the exception of Fano, which is Danish, all these islands belong to Prussia.
The town is situated in the valley of the Metauro, in the centre of fine scenery, at the meeting-point of roads to Fano, to the Furlo pass and Fossato di Vico (the ancient Via Flaminia), to Urbino and to Sinigaglia, the last crossing the river by a fine bridge.
It was one of the cities of the Pentapolis under the exarchate of Ravenna, the other four being Fano, Pesaro, Senigallia and Rimini, and eventually became a semi-independent republic under the protection of the popes, until Gonzaga took possession of it for Clement Vii.
In 1626 the last descendant of Francesco, called Francesco Maria II., when old and childless abdicated in favour of Pope Urban VIII., after which time Urbino, with its subject towns of Pesaro, Fano, Fossombrone, Gubbio, Castel Durante, Cagli and about 300 small villages, became part of the papal states until the suppression of the temporal power in 1870.
A shameless rake and a man of uncontrollable temper, his massacre of the people of Perugia after a rebellion in 1540 and the unspeakable outrage he committed on the bishop of Fano are typical of his character.