Main events

The Festa dei Ceri, a religious festival in honor of Sant’Ubaldo, is a millenary tradition that has its roots as far back as 1160. The Ceri are three wooden structures that are fixed to a stretcher, a wooden structure in the shape of an “H”, which is carried on the shoulder and running by the so-called “ceraioli”. At the top of the Ceri are the statues of three saints: Sant’Ubaldo, San Giorgio and Sant’Antonio. It is a festival that involves the entire population and which, through a series of moments of rapprochement, culminates on May 15th. An intense day marked by precise rituals that culminates in two main moments: the Alzata dei Ceri in Piazza Grande, during the morning, and the Corsa in the afternoon, in which the Ceri run along the main streets of the historic center and then up to the top of Mount Ingino to return to the Basilica of Sant’Ubaldo.

The Palio della Balestra is an ancient shooting competition with the medieval crossbows between the “Società Balestrieri di Gubbio” and the “Società Balestrieri di Sansepolcro”. The first evidence of this event is found in a document of 1410 circa. The challenge is won by the Crossbowmen who, after a series of shots, is able to approach the center of the target with the “veretta” (the arrow shoot by the crossbow). The winner is awarded the Palio which, together with a procession in historical costume at the end of the challenge, is honored in a parade through the streets of the city.

The Palio della Balestra takes place every year on the last Sunday of May.

The Path of Francis is a spiritual journey from Assisi to Gubbio that takes place every year, in three steps, September the 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd, on the trail of the path taken by the Patron Saint of Italy, St. Francis. The path begins from the “Santuario della Spogliazione” in Assisi and ends, at the end of the first stage, in Valfabbrica. The second day includes the route from Valfabbrica to the “Eremo di San Pietro in Vigneto”. While on the last day the journey ends in the “Parco della Riconciliazione” in Gubbio, where St. Francis met the wolf.

The National Exhibition of White Truffle and Food and Wine Products takes place in Gubbio every year between the end of October and the beginning of November. An event that brings together numerous producers, both local and national, in a market exhibition that also includes a series of side-events. The focus of the whole event is, of course, the white truffle, although there is no lack of delicacies and specialties from many Italian regions.

Since 1981, the “Comitato Albero di Natale più Grande del Mondo”, made up of volunteers, has created, on the slopes of Mount Ingino, what has now become one of the symbols of Gubbio: the Largest Christmas Tree in the World. A light installation, composed of lighting fixtures of various types and colors, which creates the enormous figure of a Christmas tree, surmounted by a comet star. The tree, in 1991, entered the Guinness World Record as the Largest Christmas Tree in the World. The tree has a base of 450 linear meters and a height of over 750 linear meters (just under thirty football fields), and uses about 7,500 meters of cables to connect all the light points. Its roots are “resting” on the walls of the medieval city while, on top, there is the great comet, next to the basilica of the Patron Saint Ubaldo. The star has an area of about 1,000 square meters.

But Christmas in Gubbio never ceases to surprise. The city, from November to January, is transformed and becomes the “City of Christmas”. Incredible attractions and events make it a magical place, where young and old can enjoy the wonders of Christmas.

At the foot of the Largest Christmas Tree in the World, for more than ten years now, the event Gubbio è Natale, with the ChristmasLand’s attraction, has become an eagerly awaited event that attracts a large number of visitors from all over Italy.

On Good Friday, every year, a procession starts at sunset from the Church of “Santa Croce della Foce” and crosses the streets of the historic center of the city. Along the way the statues of Our Lady of Sorrows and Christ are carried on the shoulders in an emotional parade with all the Symbols of the Passion of Christ. The procession is accompanied by the singing of the two choirs of Miserere. This event is organized by the “Confraternita Laicale di S.Croce”.