I hadn’t missed Assisi’s evocative morning Good Friday procession in years. Until last year, due to COVID restrictions. And, ahimè – alas – there won’t be a Good Friday Processione del Cristo Morto (“Procession of the Dead Christ”) this year either. But that beloved Assisi tradition – routed in 13th-century lauds (medieval hymns) – must be remembered.…
I dropped in recently at Assisi’s Cathedral of San Rufino: I needed a couple photos. Built in the 12th-century on the site of the martyrdom of Assisi’s first bishop and patron saint San Rufino, a highlight of Assisi’s Easter week events takes place here on Holy Thursday. Inside, I took photos of the protagonists of…
Easter liturgies have incorporated early forms of performances and role-playing – varying from short text passages to long presentations – since the tenth century. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Passion plays grew into elaborate performances. Called in Italy, “sacre rappresentazioni” (“sacred rapresentations”), the combination of liturgy, ritual and theatrical performances often became veritable parts…
Near Foligno in central Umbria, a small town of only about 400 residents takes center stage – quite literally – on Good Friday each year as over a hundred people unite to present their Sacra Rappresentazione, the town’s medieval Passion play. How did it all start? Francesco Frattini, main organizer told me in a recent…
Gubbio’s majestic 14th century, Palazzo dei Consoli towers proudly over Gubbio, magnificent from wherever you see it in Gubbio… …and from May 1st 15th, the Palazzo hosts three treasured “visitors”: the incised wooden pyramids called “Ceri” (candles)… …to be run up Mt. Ingino to the Basilica di Sant’Ubaldo by panting, huffing teams…
Gubbio is fully medieval, exclusively medieval. Very little has been taken away or renovated for it was built at a prosperous time of fortune and wealth. The houses flanking Gubbio’s winding medieval alleyways are solid and often magnificent, suiting the inhabitants’ needs right to the present time. Many of the Gubbio palazzi date to the 14th…
St. Francis is inextricably linked to Gubbio – apart from the famed episode of the wolf – and the town has more than one church dedicated to San Francesco di Assisi. As soon as you arrive in Gubbio, you’ll note one of the first churches in Italy dedicated to the Saint, the Church of St.…
The bell tower is the focal point of any Italian town and the loyalty to one’s bell tower – that is, one’s town – supplants nationalism in Italy. Campanilismo (literally, “belltower-ism”) is directly linked to how the Italians define themselves. Having only been a unified nation since 1861 and a democratic republic only since 1946, most Italians feel…
When you arrive in the grandiose Piazza Grande of Gubbio, the majestic 14th-century civic building Palazzo dei Consoli, rises like a solemn guardian presiding sternly over Gubbio. Unequivocal symbol of medieval glory and power, the Palazzo dei Consoli also houses the Civic Museum, inaugurated in 1909. The Civic Museum collection dates back to the mid-15th…
Viewed from practically wherever you are in Gubbio, Palazzo dei Consoli rises proudly as testimonial to Gubbio’s political objectives in the early 14th century. Palazzo dei Consoli – originally called “Palazzo del Poplo” – together with the magnificent square it faces, Piazza Grande, and the nearby Palazzo del Podestà (Mayor’s Palace), unite to form one…