Saint Ubaldo Day

What it is

Saint Ubaldo Day honours Ubaldo Baldassini, a bishop of Gubbio who was made a saint and taken as the town's protector. The Italian name for the day is Festa dei Ceri, and the procession itself is called Corsa dei Ceri. Three tall wooden structures, the ceri, carry small statues: Ubaldo first, then George, then Anthony. Each one rests on the shoulders of a team of Ceraioli, the runners. The teams are told apart by colour, yellow for Ubaldo, blue for George and black for Anthony. The day falls on 15 May, the date before the anniversary of the bishop's death, and the whole town turns out to watch.

In Gubbio

The procession ends at the Basilica di Sant'Ubaldo, which sits on the top of Mount Ingino above the town. The climb is the hard part, and it gives the day its contest: the team carrying Ubaldo hurries to shut the basilica doors before the other two teams arrive with George and Anthony. Compared with the version in the United States, the Gubbio event is larger. Its route is longer, it draws more participants, and the crowds of spectators are far bigger. Some writers see in it a survival of an old rite, and point to the Iguvine Tablets, a set of pre-Christian texts from the region.

Jessup's story

In the Lackawanna Valley of Pennsylvania, the borough of Jessup grew quickly after it was incorporated in 1876, as the anthracite coal trade drew miners from Europe. Many Italians in Jessup came from Gubbio and elsewhere in the Province of Perugia, in Umbria. That community brought the feast with them in 1909. It was kept until 1952, then revived 24 years later for the borough's centennial. In some years the crowd has reached 30,000 while the town's own population is under 5,000, and national reporters have come. A Saint Ubaldo Society now runs the day, and the local hose company holds a carnival and picnic over the same weekend.

The day in Jessup

Saint Ubaldo Day in Jessup starts early, with musicians from Valley View High School moving through the streets and a small gathering at the Catholic Italian cemetery of Saint John. The three families of the saints then share a frittata breakfast. Everyone walks to Saint Mary's Assumption Church for Mass, and afterwards comes L'Alzata. Three H-shaped frames, the stanga, are set upright and the heavy pedestals, each weighing some 400 to 450 pounds, are fixed into them crosswise with wooden pegs. Team captains climb up and bless the frames with holy water kept in ceramic vases, called brocca, sent from Gubbio.

Race and meaning

Afternoons are for visiting. Neighbours put out home-cooked food and wine in their yards and along the pavement for anyone passing. The saints are carried at an easy pace for practice. Then the main procession begins uptown, threads through residential streets and the Church Street business district, runs downhill to Station Park, turns, and climbs again to the Jessup Veterans' Memorial Stadium, where each team circles the field three times in what is called I tre giri. It is called a race for its speed and noise rather than for any real contest, because Ubaldo is always first. The day is a promise of protection and a tie to home.

How Saint Ubaldo Day is kept

In Gubbio, teams carry the ceri up Mount Ingino to the basilica and Ubaldo's runners try to reach the doors first. In Jessup the morning opens with street musicians and a short ceremony at the cemetery, then a frittata breakfast shared by the three families, a Mass at Saint Mary's Assumption Church and L'Alzata, when the pedestals are pegged onto the stanga frames. Neighbours offer food and wine during the afternoon. The procession sets off uptown, goes down to Station Park and back up to the stadium for three circuits. Saint Ubaldo is always declared the winner.

When and where

In Gubbio the feast is held on 15 May, the day before the anniversary of Bishop Ubaldo's death. Jessup keeps it on the Saturday that falls in the Memorial Day weekend, so the American date moves from year to year. The Gubbio date is fixed by the calendar.

The day belongs to Gubbio in Umbria, the town of the saint, where it finishes at the hilltop basilica and is the largest event of the year. Gubbio's emigrants took it to Jessup, Pennsylvania, a coal town in the Lackawanna Valley near Scranton, and it is kept there by the Saint Ubaldo Society. The two towns are twinned, and Gubbio calls Jessup its Città Gemellata.

What Saint Ubaldo Day means

Bishop Ubaldo is the protector of Gubbio, and carrying his pedestal is a way of asking for his care for another year. The yellow team runs for him, and his win at the end is not in doubt. The wooden frames are said to recall the bier on which his body was carried through the town. For families in Jessup, the day links them to the Umbrian towns their grandparents left, and to neighbours who share the work of hoisting and carrying.

Questions people ask about Saint Ubaldo Day

See also

Akhand PathThe unbroken, continuous reading of the entire Sikh scripture over two daysLas PosadasA nine-night Christmas pageant remembering Mary and Joseph seeking shelterSukkahA temporary hut with a branch roof, lived in for the seven days of SukkotCaffèItaly's daily coffee habit: espresso taken standing at the bar, and moka coffee at home

Good reading and sources

• Saint Ubaldo Day on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-11.