The biography of the most famous condottiere in Renaissance Italy: military leader, diplomat, patron of the arts. He has the most recognizable nose in Italy: Federico da Montefeltro. Many know it from the equally famous portrait by Piero della Francesca in the Uffizi. Few know how Federico came to have this nose and how he managed to transform Urbino, a mountain village on the edge of the Marche, into a center of Renaissance architecture admired even by Jacob Burckhardt between 1444 and 1482: he attracted the most renowned artists to Urbino, his library was one of the most significant of the era, and his palace became the definitive princely residence of the early modern period. Two experts, historian Roeck and art historian Tönnesmann, have collaborated to portray this most famous condottiere of Italy, his palace, his military campaigns, and his patronage.