The lights on Monte Ingino
Every year, during the Christmas period, the slopes of Monte Ingino, the mountain that rises behind Gubbio, light up with a spectacular sight that can be seen from kilometres away across the valley: the largest Christmas tree in the world. It is not a real tree, but a giant drawing of light: hundreds of coloured lamps placed on the mountainside, connected by kilometres of electric cables, which trace the outline of a gigantic fir tree, about 750 metres high, from the walls of the city up to the top of the mountain, crowned by a large comet star of light near the Basilica of Sant'Ubaldo.
The idea was born in 1981 from a group of volunteers from Gubbio, the "Alberaioli", who still today, every year, spend months of work in the autumn installing and maintaining the lights on the steep slope, among woods and rocks, without any public funding. In 1991 the tree entered the Guinness Book of Records as the largest Christmas tree in the world. It is traditionally lit on 7 December, the eve of the Immaculate Conception, with a ceremony in the presence of crowds and often of famous guests: over the years it has been lit, from a distance, by personalities such as Pope Benedict XVI, with a tablet, and Italian presidents. It remains lit until after the Epiphany, and the best view is from the city, especially from Piazza Grande, and from the plain below. In the same period, Gubbio's historic centre hosts Christmas markets and nativity scenes, including a life-size nativity scene in the moat of the city.
Tip: watch the tree from Piazza Grande and from the road below the city; visit in December, combining it with the Christmas markets.
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