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Gubbio is a town and comune in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia, (Umbria), 43°12′N 12°34′E / 43.200°N 12.567°E / 43.200; 12.567. At 522 m (1713 ft) above sea-level, it clings to the first slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines. Its population according to the 2003 census was 16,800.

The city's origins are very ancient: as Ikuvium, it was an important town of the ancient Umbrian people in pre-Roman times, and is famous for the discovery there of the Eugubine (or Iguvine) Tables, a set of bronze tablets that together constitute the largest surviving text in ancient Umbrian. After the Roman conquest in the 2nd century BC — it kept its name with only a slight change (Iguvium) — the city remained important, as attested by its Roman theater, the second-largest surviving in the world.

Gubbio became very powerful since the earliest Middle Age. The town sent 1000 knights to fight in the First Crusade under the lead of Count Girolamo Gabrielli, and according to an undocumented tradition, they were the first to penetrate into the Holy Sepulchre when the city was seized (1099).

The following centuries were quite turbulent and Gubbio was engaged in wars against the surrounding towns of Umbria. One of these wars saw the miraculous intervention of its bishop, Saint Ubaldo Baldassini, who secured Gubbio an overwhelming victory (1151) and a period of prosperity.

In 1350 Giovanni Gabrielli, count of Borgovalle, a member of the noblest family of Gubbio, seized the power and became lord of Gubbio. However his rule was short and he was forced to hand over the town to Cardinal Albornoz, representing the Church (1354).

A few years later, Gabriello Gabrielli, bishop of Gubbio proclaimed himself again lord of Gubbio (Signor d’Agobbio). Betrayed by a group of noblemen which included many a relative of his, he was forced to leave the town and seek refuge at his home castle at Cantiano.

With the decay of the political prestige of the Gabrielli family, Gubbio was thereafter incorporated into the Montefeltro State, and eventually became part of the State of the Church when this family extinguished (1631).

In 1860, when the State of the Church collapsed, Gubbio entered the Kingdom of Italy.

The historical center of Gubbio is of concentratedly medieval aspect: it is an austere-looking town of dark grey stone, narrow streets, and Gothic architecture.

A fair number of the houses in Gubbio date to the 14th and 15th centuries, and were originally the dwellings of wealthy merchants; they often have a second door fronting on the street, usually just a few inches from the main entrance, narrower, and a foot or so above the actual street level. This type of door is called a porta dei morti (door of the dead) because it is commonly stated that it was used only for removing the bodies of any who might have died inside the house. This is almost certainly false, but there is no firm agreement on the true purpose of the secondary doors.

Gubbio is known throughout Italy for its palio, the Corsa dei Ceri, a spectacular race held every year on May 15, in which three teams, devoted to S. Ubaldo (the patron saint of Gubbio), S. Giorgio, and S. Antonio, run through throngs of cheering supporters (clad in the distinctive colours of yellow, blue and black, with white trousers and red belts and neckbands), up much of the mountain from the main square in front of the Palazzo dei Consoli to the basilica of S. Ubaldo, each team carrying a statue of their saint mounted on a wooden octagonal prism, similar to a hour-glass shape 5 meters (16 feet) tall and weighing over 400 kilograms (about 900 pounds).

The race has strong devotional, civic, and historical overtones and is one of the best-known folklore manifestations in Italy; the Ceri were chosen as the heraldic emblem on the coat of arms of Umbria as a modern administrative region.

Monuments

• Roman Theater
• Roman Mausoleum (sometimes said to be of Pomponius Graecinus, but on no satisfactory grounds)
• Palazzo dei Consoli, housing the museum with the Eugubine Tables
• Palazzo and Torre Gabrielli
• Duomo
• Church of S. Francesco

External links

Official sites

• Official Site
• Festa dei Ceri

Third-party sites

• Associazione Eugubini nel Mondo
• Umbria Online
• ETE site
• Umbria Travel:Gubbio
• Bill Thayer's Gazetteer of Umbria
• ItalianVisits.com

• Hilltowns in Umbria
• Roman sites of Umbria