We have come to Gubbio to watch the Corso dei Ceri, a festival which is held every year on May 15th. 3 teams run through the town carrying a statue of their saint mounted on a wooden octagonal prism. The statue is 4 metres tall and weighs 280 kilograms…and Gubbio is built on the side of a very steep hill.
That is tomorrow and we came a day early to see Gubbio. It has obviously been a very wealthy town at some point. Many of the beautiful houses date from the 14th and 15th centuries and the town has been very well preserved. It is also a thriving and exciting modern town, with sophisticated shops, restaurants and bars.
It has a Roman amphitheatre which is used for concerts in summer.
The town has several impressive entrances like this one.
Of course there are spectacular ancient churches.
The magnificent Palazzo dei Consoli sits in an excellent position high in the town.
The piazza in front offers wonderful views over the Umbrian countryside.
There are banners hanging from almost every window in town, supporting the favourite team.
We saw teams of children practising to be Ceri carriers.
Crowds gathered in front of the Palazzo dei Consoli from 6.00pm to watch the bell ringing.
We had no idea what to expect. Have a look at the bell tower.
At 7.00pm a small group of men appeared in the tower and proceeded to leap onto the bell and push it until it did a complete turn.
A rope was then strung across the bell and it was pushed backwards and forwards.
This went on for some time, much to the delight of the audience. Then they jumped on it again to slow it down and bring it back to the original position.
I don’t know about you, but I think that looks a bit dangerous.
After dinner we walked through the town.
There were celebrations going on everywhere, with music and dancing in the streets.
While this serious fellow looked on.
Then it was back to the hotel to have a good sleep. I believe we will be woken very early tomorrow morning by bells and drumming to open the celebrations.
Our hotel room is quite lovely.
Have a look at the amazing ceiling.
And there is an angel watching over us.
I think tomorrow is going to be very exciting. I hope the day is fine and sunny and I get lots of good photos to share with you.