Gubbio is tucked away close to the mountains in the north-east corner of Umbria so it is a destination rather than a stop on the way to somewhere else and it certainly repays the small extra effort it takes to get there. This was my first visit but Elena had been here many times before because this was one of her family's favorite stops 40+ years ago when crossing the Apennines before new tunnels and better roads were built further south near Foligno.
Both of us have travelled all over Umbria in the past 10 years to cities, towns and villages of all sizes and we're tempted to elevate Gubbio to our favorite location in the entire region, influenced no doubt by our recent experience there which coincided with the first weekend of the Gubbio Festa dei Ceri.
It's their most important annual festival and is celebrated with real enthusiasm by the locals, generating a fabulous and very genuine atmosphere. Taking place over two weekends in May it's one of the oldest and most authentic Italian festivals going back to the 12th century, surviving French occupation during the early years of the 19th century, as well as the increasingly secular administrations after Italian independence and stopping only for world wars and the recent pandemic.
What makes Gubbio so special?
First and foremost it's a perfectly intact medieval town that's still inhabited by mostly local people who are fiercely proud of their heritage. It's very welcoming to visitors but not overtly so in the sense that it has a very different atmosphere to our home town of Lucca where the balance in the centro storico has already tipped in favor of tourists rather than residents and where there has been a very noticeable change in the last 10-15 years.
We heard hardly any foreign accents in Gubbio on the festival weekend and the price for our accommodation in the center of town that we had booked at very short notice was surprisingly cheap, all of which suggests that the locals remain firmly in the majority in their city. A week after our trip to Gubbio we spent a Sunday in the attractive Tuscan town of Lucignano where at lunch we were completely surrounded by tourists with no Italians in sight so the contrast with Gubbio was quite stark.
This is one of the reasons that we will be offering small group tours, starting in 2025, to our favorite places in less touristy areas like Abruzzo and the Maremma for like-minded people who want to experience Italy amongst Italians.
As expected perhaps in a town with a Christian festival still going after 800 years, Gubbio has other religious legends that go back that far and relate to Saint Francis. Though more closely associated with nearby Assisi, Francis lived for a while in Gubbio while undergoing his conversion from the son of a wealthy merchant to a poor penitent with no worldly possessions.
It was here in front of the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, according to Chapter XXI of the Fioretti written in the 14th century, that Francis tamed a wolf that had been terrorizing the town, or rather he created a bargain between the townspeople and the wolf that in exchange for regular food the wolf would stop its attacks.
In the Chiesa di San Francesco della Pace (alternatively known as the Chiesa dei Muratori) there are the Barella dei Santi (left) used in the procession to hold the figure of the saint above the Ceri and the tomb of the wolf (right).
La Festa dei Ceri
The Ceri are three tall ornamental wooden structures called candles that represent three different saints. They are kept in the Basilica di Sant'Ubaldo at the top of Monte Ingino above Gubbio until the first Sunday in May when they are brought down from the mountain and paraded through town, while kept always in a horizontal position.
A foggy early morning at the top of Monte Ingino with the parade getting ready to start
Part of the tradition is to get up early and walk up the steep two mile path to the Basilica and then, after morning mass, accompany the candles and the band down into town. Many local residents do this so I joined them and when you reach the top it earns you the right to become part of the procession as it descends and meanders through the town to finish at the Palazzo dei Consoli in Piazza Grande, where the Ceri are exhibited until May 15th.
The candles are long and heavy measuring 4 meters and weighing around 275 kilos even without all the children perched on top, so 8 strong citizens of Gubbio are selected to bear them aloft for the long procession, and in fact they move very quickly through town, stopping only briefly when the crowds impede their progress through the narrow streets.
The candles are carried on stretchers with children sitting on top wearing the colors of one of the three saints: blue for San Giorgio, black for Sant'Antonio and yellow for Sant'Ubaldo. Affiliation to one of the Ceri has nothing to do with which Gubbio rione or neighborhood you are from but rather it is linked to long-held family traditions that derived from what type of work you did.
Historically bricklayers and stonemasons were linked to Sant'Ubaldo, merchants and artisans to San Giorgio and farmers and landowners to Sant'Antonio. Everyone in Gubbio wears their appropriate colors throughout the two weekends, with flags draped from windows everywhere.
On May 15th the festivities start very early with the drummers waking up the Capodieci at 5.30 am. with the 'Marcia dei Ceri' drum roll, followed by various traditional duties and formalities.
There are three Capodieci representing each Cero dressed in the appropriate colors but distinguished also by a coat of arms on their chest with the symbols of the three Saints of the Ceri.
The Capodieci are elected in early January and organize all the details of the race and these are the three men you see in the video below who perform the final salute with the jugs in Piazza Grande at noon in front of massed crowds before raising the Ceri vertically for the first time.
The raising itself is quite an acrobatic maneuver that requires the Capodieci to fling themselves forward in a so-called 'angel flight' to act as a counterweight while his team behind, known as Ceraioli, simultaneously push.
The display in Piazza Grande is highly planned and choreographed to follow traditions very precisely, much of which will be missed by the untrained eye so it is worth learning as much as you can about the event before going to watch it in person. For example, as soon as the Ceri are raised they do three circuits around the flagpole in an anti-clockwise direction but the Sant'Antonio group must do an extra lap before leaving Piazza Grande.
About 6 o'clock in the evening a race takes place between the three groups that goes through town and finishes back up the mountain at the Basilica, all the while carrying these heavy and cumbersome Ceri. The Ceraioli number several hundred because the weight and steepness of the slope require frequent substitutions but these substitutions must be carried out without stopping so it requires technical ability and experience.
I walked up the mountain carrying nothing more than a camera and I found it arduous enough which is why there is now a cable car for tourists to use.