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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. 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. In Italy, the comune, (plural comuni) is the basic administrative unit of both provinces and regions, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality. ...
Perugia (It. ...
Umbria is a region of central Italy, bordered by Tuscany to the west, the Marche to the east and Lazio to the south. ...
This is about the terrestrial mountain range. ...
2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
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. Umbrian, an Indo-European language of the Italic family, is a dead language formerly spoken in Umbria, Italy. ...
The Iguvine Tables were a series of seven bronze tablets discovered at Iguvium, contemporary Gubbio, in Italy in the year 1444. ...
(3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - other centuries) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) // Events 175 BCE - Antiochus IV Epiphanes, took possession of the Syrian throne, at the murder of his brother Seleucus IV Philopator, which rightly belonged to his nephew Demetrius I Soter. ...
Gubbio is a town and comune (township) in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia, (Umbria), 43°21N 12°34E. At 522 m (1713 ft) above sea-level, it clings to the first slope of Mt. ...
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 First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II to regain control of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Christian Holy Land from Muslims. ...
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, called Church of the Resurrection (Anastasis) by Eastern Christians, is a Christian church now within the walled Old City of Jerusalem. ...
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). Gil Alvarez De Albornoz, Spanish cardinal, was born at Cuenca early in the 14th century. ...
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). The Gabrielli are an Italian feudal family from Gubbio, in Umbria. ...
Montefeltro is the name of an historical Italian family who ruled Urbino. ...
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 best known for 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). Palio is the name given in Italy to an annual athletic contest, very often of a historical character, pitting the neighbourhoods of a town or the hamlets of a comune against each other. ...
May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (136th in leap years). ...
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.
There is only one other town, besides Gubbio that hosts a celebration like the Corsa dei Ceri, located in Jessup, Pennsylvania. In this small town they carry out the same festivities as the residents of Gubbio do by "racing" the three statues through the streets. This remains an important and sacred event in both towns.
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
Pomponius Graecinus is a name borne by a number of Ancient Romans: The Roman Mausoleum at Gubbio, dated by archaeologists to 10 BC, is believed by some to be the burial place of a Pomponius Graecinus, a native of Gubbio who became prefect of Rome Gaius Pomponius Graecinus, suffect consul...
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