Gubbio - Umbria`s most medieval town

Gubbio was built on the first slope of Mount Ingino which is one of the mountains in the Appenine Mountain Range, which makes for a striking backdrop to the medieval buildings of the town.

The centre of the town is dominated by the Palazzo dei Consoli with the Piazza Grande in front of it, which affords the visitor some fantastic views across Gubbio and Umbria’s hills beyond. The huge building took around 200 years to build, not least because of the engineering involved to create the ‘hanging square’, which is built on a massive arched structure.

Within the Palace, you find the Civic Museum which houses the Eugubine Tablets, seven bronze sheets, which date from the end of the second century BC, and give information about the governmental system of Gubbio in the ancient Umbrian language.

Above the town you can see the Basilica di Sant'Ubaldo, which is the end point of the famous Festa dei Ceri, a medieval festival which involves three teams of men lugging great wooden structures to the top of Mount Ingino! If you are feeling slightly less adventurous than the ceraioli, you can take cable car up to the Basilica.

There are many small roads that are a joy to walk through in Gubbio. If you come across the Fontana dei Matti (the “fountain of the mad”), you could try the old tradition of walking around it three times, which is said to cause madness!