Three teams of 20 men sprint 300kg octagonal wooden pillars up a mountain. It’s been happening every May 15 since at least 1160. Nothing in Italy is this intense.
Plan this trip →May 15, always. (If May 15 falls on a weekday, it’s still May 15. The town shuts down.) Events start at 6am, the race is at 6pm, celebrations until dawn.
Three ceri (wooden "candles"): Sant’Ubaldo (yellow, ceraioli from upper town), San Giorgio (blue), Sant’Antonio (black). Each is 4m tall, weighs ∼300kg, topped with a saint statue. 20 ceraioli carry each one at a RUN from Piazza Grande up Monte Ingino (300m elevation) to the basilica. The course is 4km. They run it in ∼8 minutes. Sant’Ubaldo always finishes first (it’s tradition, not competition — the "competition" is in the speed and the honor of not dropping the cero).
Gubbio is in Umbria, 40 min from Perugia by car. No train station (bus from Perugia/Fossato di Vico). Stay in Perugia and drive, or book a hotel in Gubbio months ahead (€100–180, the town has limited beds).
Free, from anywhere along the route. Piazza Grande for the start. Via dei Consoli for the charge up the hill. Arrive by 4pm for a spot. 25,000–30,000 people in a town of 32,000.
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