Europe
Italy
Gubbio
church of Saint Dominic

A brief description.

Gubbio is a town and commune in the far north-eastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria) and located on the first slope of Mount Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines.

The city's origins are very ancient: as Ikuvium, it was an important town of the ancient Umbrian people in pre-Roman times, and is famous for the discovery there of the Eugubine (or Iguvine) Tables, a set of bronze tablets that together constitute the largest surviving text in ancient Umbrian.

After the Roman conquest in the 2nd century BC -  it kept its name with only a slight change (Iguvium) - the city remained important, as attested by its Roman theater, the second-largest surviving in the world.

Gubbio became very powerful in the beginning of the Middle Ages. The town sent 1000 knights to fight in the First Crusade under the lead of Count Girolamo Gabrielli, and according to an undocumented tradition, they were the first to penetrate into the Holy Sepulchre when the city was seized (1099).

The following centuries were quite turbulent and Gubbio was engaged in wars against the surrounding towns of Umbria. One of these wars saw the miraculous intervention of its bishop, Saint Ubaldo Baldassini, who secured Gubbio an overwhelming victory (1151) and a period of prosperity.

In 1350 Giovanni Gabrielli, count of Borgovalle, a member of the noblest family of Gubbio, seized the power and became lord of Gubbio. However his rule was short and he was forced to hand over the town to Cardinal Albornoz, representing the Church (1354).

A few years later, Gabriello Gabrielli, bishop of Gubbio proclaimed himself again lord of Gubbio (Signor d’Agobbio). Betrayed by a group of noblemen which included many a relative of his, the bishop was forced to leave the town and seek refuge at his home castle at Cantiano.

With the decay of the political prestige of the Gabrielli family, Gubbio was thereafter incorporated into the Montefeltro State, and eventually became part of the Papal States when this family extinguished (1631).

In 1860 Gubbio was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy along with the rest of the Papal States.

The church of Saint Dominic.

The church of Saint Dominic is situated on the Piazza Giordano Bruno and is built in the 12th century on the foundations of the parish church of Saint Martin.

In the church are frescoes and paintings. Important is the choir, 16^th century, and the famous "Leggio del Terzuolo" (lectern of the goshawk).

In the chjapels paintings, among others:  Mary Magdalen by Giovanni Baglione (17^th century), Saint Vincent Ferrer (16^th century); Madonna with Child by Raffael del Colle (1546); scenes of the lives of Peter Martyr iof Verona and Vincent Ferrer by Ottaviano Nelli (15^th Century).

Philately

Gubbio (Umbria) located on the first slope of Mount Ingino,
a small mountain of the Apennines.

 Italy 1978, Mi 1600, Sc 1314.

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