At the excavated site of San Marco, east of Gubbio, archaeologists found a ditch with various almost-intact ceramic vessels, which may indicate a deliberate deposit as part of some sort of ritual.

[5]: 178  The settlement at Monte Ingino was polyfocal, with people inhabiting sites on the slopes below the summit (such as Via dei Consoli and Vescovado), while the mountaintop itself, with its harsher climate, was only occupied seasonally, during spring.

Agricultural technology at the time was probably similar to that of Northern Europe during the Iron Age, with light wooden ards pulled by animals.

[4]: 92 [4] Monte Asciano remained inhabited in the early Iron Age (1200-1000 BCE),[3] and the sites of Vescovado and Sant'Agostino primarily date from this period as well.

[4]: 90 By the Archaic period, the main area of settlement had shifted to the lower slopes of Monte Asciano, including Sant'Agostino.

), between the river Camignano, the continuation of Via dei Consoli, Viale Parruccini and the wall so-called "del vallo", extending over about 34 hectares and surrounded by a huge area of land to be used for agriculture and stock-farming".

[7] This is supported by a high number of archaeological finds in the area, including a vernice nera kiln possibly from the 3rd or 2nd century BCE as well as a necropolis at San Biagio.

A number of smaller rural settlements also existed throughout the valley, dependent on the main town; the two best-known archaeologically were at Mocaiana and Casa Regni.

[8] The date of Gubbio's theatre is unknown, although its size, its layout, and the rustication on the exterior suggest that it was built during or after the reign of Claudius.

[3] A funerary inscription records one Vittorius Rufus as "avispex extispicus sacerdos publicus et privatus" — that is, someone who interpreted bird flight and entrails, as well as managed public and private rituals — and another lists a Sestus Vetiarius Surus with a similar title.

This is unusual because this profession was not very common in the Roman world, but it had been important among the Umbri and Etruscans (and featured prominently in the Iguvine tablets), suggesting that these religious practices continued locally.

The town sent 1000 knights to fight in the First Crusade under the lead of Girolamo of the prominent Gabrielli family, who, according to an undocumented local tradition, were the first to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre when Jerusalem was seized (1099).

Toward the beginning of the 11th century, "the combination of demographic growth and the declining control by feudal lords over their land" led to a more favorable contract for peasants such as enfiteusi.

[citation needed] In the 13th century (1200s), there was "further economic expansion"; Gubbio had to expand its city walls and construct new buildings to accommodate a growing population.

[4]: 43 In the early 1300s, there was a major population increase; in addition to vines, olives, and fruit trees, new crops were introduced: flax and hemp.

His rule was short, and he was forced to hand over the town to Cardinal Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz, representing the Papal states (1354).

Betrayed by a group of noblemen which included many of his relatives, the bishop was forced to leave the town and seek refuge at his home castle at Cantiano.

[citation needed] In the 1400s, there was a major economic revival of the city of Gubbio, and accordingly the demand for grain and other agricultural produce increased.

The Comune issued an edict in 1422 stipulating that all landowners must have their lands sown with "good grain" or face a large fine in the Camera Comunale.

By the end of the 1400s, so much land had been turned over to farmland that shepherds's complaints are recorded saying that they could no longer find suitable pastureland and had to take their flocks into the Marche.

[9] The maiolica industry at Gubbio reached its apogee in the first half of the 16th century, with metallic lustre glazes imitating gold and copper.

Also, especially since the 16th century, ditches and levees have been constructed to control water flow, significantly altering the drainage patterns in the valley.

[citation needed] Gubbio is located in an upland valley in the Apennine Mountains, in the northeastern part of the present-day region of Umbria.

The historical centre of Gubbio has a decidedly medieval aspect: the town is austere in appearance because of the dark grey stone, narrow streets, and Gothic architecture.

The race has strong devotional, civic, and historical overtones and is one of the best-known folklore manifestations in Italy; the Ceri was chosen as the heraldic emblem on the coat of arms of Umbria as a modern administrative region.

In this small town the people carry out the same festivities as the residents of Gubbio do by "racing" the three statues through the streets during the Memorial Day weekend.

The characteristics of this boundary layer support the theory that a devastating meteorite impact, with accompanying ecological and climatic disturbance, was directly responsible for the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

In Hermann Hesse's novel Steppenwolf (1927) the isolated and tormented protagonist – a namesake of the wolf – consoles himself at one point by recalling a scene that the author might have beheld during his travels: "(...) that slender cypress on the hill over Gubbio that, though split and riven by a fall of stone, yet held fast to life and put forth with its last resources a new sparse tuft at the top".

The TV series Don Matteo, where the title character ministers to his parish while solving crimes, was shot on location in Gubbio between 2000 and 2011.