Following The Path of The Exarchate of Ravenna - Part 2: Gubbio

We picked up our rented car and we left Rome on July 19th. We got a sweet VW Convertible from the agency (one-time upgrade out of nowhere) and drove all the way to Molino Vitelli, where we spend a couple of days visiting the region and it's surrounding cities. The landscape was gorgeous; mountains covered with pine trees, hay balls, and dried sunflowers (it was a brutal summer).

I asked Nick to stop the car so I can shoot this short - isn't it gorgeous?

We arrived to our friend's place and she received us with a delicious lasagna with salad, and of course, a refreshing rosé:

Molino Vitelli

    

The next day we drove to Gubbio (check out our itinerary). Gubbio is a small town with an interesting 3-parts layout. The skirt of the hills is where the community lives, and the top of one of the highest hills has a cable car. 

Gubbio from the Roman Theatre

Gubbio from its main road

At the bottom of the hills is the city center (a little park with a merry -go-round, a couple of churches, and government offices), the Roman Theatre (it was a learning moment to me to know that every city in Rome has a Colloseum-like Roman Theater), the Mausoleum (where the 1944 massacre took place), and La Vittorina. 

  

Mausoleum

Roman Theatre

City Center

                                                                                       

    

Our first stop was the Church of Santa Maria Della Vittoria "La Vittorina", heavily visited by pilgrims every year since it was Saint Francis's home in Gubbio, as well as the site where he had the famous encounter with the wolf that had became a menace for the Gubbio villagers. 

La Vittorina

Altar of La Vittorina

This is where St. Francis used to live - currently closed to the public.

                                       St. Francis's encounter with the wolf, narrated in Italian. 

After la Vittorina, we visited the other sites at the bottom of Mount Ingino, and started to make our way to the top, my favorite part! I extremely afraid of heights, but I can handle slow-paced attractions like cable cars. 

On our way up, we stumble across a couple of little souvenir stores and the Archeological Museum of Gubbio, in which we took this stunning short video of the city:

                                                               

Gubbio from the Archeological Museum

                            

The city has an elevator that is like their subway (!!!) and it goes all the way up to the cable car spot. But we decided to go back down and drive up to the cable car (which has a parking space). 

We took the cable car all the way to the top! 

Gubbio from the top!

At the top of the cable car there's a very cute little plaza with the Basilica of St. Ubaldo. Inside the basilica is the ceri that is displayed for The Ceri Festival every May 15th in honor of St. Ubaldo, patron of the city:

Basilica of St. Ubaldo - located at the top of Gubbio

Little plaza at the top

Each cero represents a different saint, and it's displayed throughout the city at 

The Ceri Festival every May 15th

This has been happening since the 12th century!

Now it's time to go back down. We made our way to the cable car one more time and started our descend, saying goodbye to Gubbio in our hearts but promising to visit again. Next time maybe we'll ride the merry-go-round :) 

This was waiting for us at home - zero complaints!!!

Feel free to check out our full Italy Trip itinerary HERE! 

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