Gubbio, 15th May, The Race of the Ceri

I loved Gubbio the first time I visited 28 years ago on Good Friday for “The Procession of the Dead”. This centuries old tradition is a representation of Christ’s Passion where effigies of the dead Christ, Our Lady of Sorrow and a skull that symbolises Golgotha are carried (more like run) through the streets at night by men dressed in hooded sackcloth (think KKK), playing strange instruments that rattle and carry flaming torches. Bonfires are lit along the path. It was a strange and moving event especially for a young atheist from Brisbane and something I have never forgotten.

Gubbio is the kind of town where their Basilica on the top of Mount Ingino has the bones of their founding Saint U’baldo entombed in a glass neo gothic coffin for all to see. He died in 1160. I loved Gubbio the first time for it strange ceremony, its ancient buildings set against a stunning Mount Ingino (rising 400m from the town). It is for this reason we came to this part of Italy first, to be near Gubbio.

Gubbio has trebled in size since 1980 and is surrounded by carparks. The new development isn’t too bad with the red tile roofs helping to keep the character of the town. I must say I was a little disappointed though. It wasn’t the ancient town I remembered.

The new and the old Gubbio

Gubbio now has the world’s largest Christmas tree illumination on the side of Monte Ingino. We obviously missed that, but did see Saint U’baldo’s bones. While we failed to see the other dozen or so churches we were there for the most significant event in the Gubbian calendar, the Race of the Ceri.

This all day event is basically a race of three statues of Saints U’baldo, Giorgio, and Antonio carried on Ceri a strange heavy wooden structure to the top of Mount Ingino. The local people are all dressed as one of the Saint’s supporters, with shirts of

*yellow for U’baldo proctector of masons,

*blue for Giorgio protector of merchants,

*and black for Antonio protector of farmers,

They all wear white pants, red waist sashes and red neck scarves, all ages, both male and female.

The ceremony begins

Saint Giorgio

St Antonio


St U'baldo

The Blue team carrying the Ceri.

There were thousands of people, wine flowing in the streets, bands, chanting, and singing, and much running through the streets carrying the ceri. We were admonished by a local for not dressing up in traditional costume. He lamented that he was stuck living in Gubbio because it was the best place in the world to be born with a warm close community and he needed visitors like us to tell him what is going on in the outside world. He’d had a few wines by then, but I could see his point. I still love Gubbio.

Crowd Scene, we nearly were squashed at one point, Ron kept saying things like, keep you arms in front of your chest and don't fall over, and he wonders why I don't want to go to the soccer with him!

The Grande Piazza, Gubbio

The Roman Theatre dated 1st century

We also walked the Roman aqueduct, if you look carefully you can see it winding its way around the hillside. It is now used to carry water pipes. Some things never change.