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Calendar of events in Umbria

Calendimaggio
Assisi - From 6 May 2010 to 8 May 2010
This takes place for three days in the second week in May. The origin of today’s festival dates back to 1927 when singers from the various churches in the city came together to sing songs based on ancient melodies. The city divides into the Upper and Lower parts which compete for the prize of a banner. Success depends on the quality of the singers, the costumes, and success in depicting scenes from the Middle Ages.

La Corsa dei Ceri
Gubbio - 15 May 2010
This takes place on 15th May. Possibly, dating back to pagan times, it happens on the anniversary of the death of the Saint patron of Gubbio, Sant Ubaldo. The ceri are three enormous wooden pillars, each weighing some four hundred kilos, each one having on the top the statue of a saint – Ubaldo, Giorgio, and Antonio. These are carried by three teams from the lower town up the hill to the church of Sant Ubaldo, on the top of Monte Ingino.

Cantine Aperte
Umbria - May 2010
The event has been organized by the Movimento Turismo del Vino (Wine Tourism Movement) since its first year, in 1993.
During the Open Wine Cellars there is the possibility to taste the Umbria wines. .

L'Infiorata
Spello - On the day of Corpus Domini the main streets in Spello are covered by wonderful floral displays. The designs depict various religious scenes, sometimes invented, sometimes copied from famous paintings. The ceremony is linked to the ancient custom of throwing flowers in honor of the statues in religious processions.

Il Mercato delle Gaite
Bevagna - from 01 to 24 April 2010
It takes place in the second week in June, and takes its origin from the ancient political division of the town into four ‘gaite’ or areas. The most important moment of the event is the recreation of the medieval market in the last few days of the festival.

Il Festival dei Due Mondi
Spoleto - froml 18 June to 04 July 2010
It takes place each year in the first two weeks of July. It was initiated in 1958 by Giancarlo Menotti. The festival is a very important international cultural event. Essentially, it is a very high quality musical event, including ballet, opera, chamber concerts, orchestral performances, prose and poetry readings, but there are also exhibitions, drama, and film.

Umbria Jazz
Perugia - from 09 July 2010 to 18 July 2010
It takes place each year in early July, in Perugia. Started in 1973, it is now one of the most important jazz festivals in Europe, and attracts artists from all over the world.

Trasimeno Blues Festival
From 22 July to 1 August 2010
"Trasimeno Blues Festival" is a summer festival started off in 1996 and promoted and financed by the Passignano sul Trasimeno City Hall. The last week of July, you can enjoy yourself with quality blues music besides in Passignano, also in other towns such as Tuoro sul Trasimeno, Castiglione del Lago, Piegaro and Città della Pieve. Among the most prestigious names of the Blues world.

Umbria Film Festival
Montone - 6/11 July 2010
Floating high above an etemal landscape, in the heart of a dark stone town, images from the Adventures of Baron Munchausen tumble across a giant screen which towers over a small moonlit square. While children play, people sitting at tables or chairs arranged as an alfresco cinema, chat, talk, watch - captured by the film. Others prefer to escape - to the safety of the local café. But, there is no escape. A light shines from behind the bar. It hurIs the shadows of the drinkers back across the square and onto the screen. There they blend with the characters of my film in a dance of reality and fantasy that remains forever imprinted on my memory. The Montone Umbria film festival can do things like that to you - it is a magical event. l'm proud to be a small part of it.”

Todi Arte Festival
Todi - September 2010
Todi Arte Festival is a theatre, lyric, dance and music review.

Il Palio dei Terzieri
Città della Pieve - from 08 August 2010 to 19 August 2010
The "Terzieri" have their origins from the subdivision of the medieval city in three pieces of land, the parts of the eagle are identifying themselves with the "Terzieri", who in return refer themselves to three social classes: to the head corresponds the "Terziere" Castle or Class of the cavaliers (Aristocracy), to the belly the "Terziere" Inside Borough (Middle class), to the flipper-queue the "Terziere Casalino" or Class of the Walkers (Farmers).
Nowadays the cavaliers of the "Terzieri" evocate the antique hunting of the Bull, challenging each other in the art of archery, touching silhouettes representing the "chianina" bull race fixed on mobile platforms. Every year, the historic parade is chaired by the group organized by the city administration, followed by the Maestro of scene, the Carry Gonfalon, the Symbols of the City and the Judges.

Festival delle Nazioni
Città di Castello - from 26 August to 5 September 2010
The Festival’s cultural framework has been characterized since its inception by the choice of one guest country each year which is given the opportunity to present to the public the best of its musical production in a particularly suggestive, natural and architectonic scenery.
In this context, the contribution offered by the Festival delle Nazioni to the European integration through art and culture has been universally appreciated.

La Giostra della Quintana
Foligno - 11 / 12 June 2010 - 11 / 12 September 2010
It takes place in the months of June and September. The festival has its origins in an ancient equestrian competition of the 17th century, in which riders competed to display their loyalty to the Prince or his Lady. In today’s ceremony, ten riders, each representing one district in the town, compete with each other to insert the point of a lance in various rings. The festival is proceeded by a procession in traditional costumes.

I Primi d'Italia
Foligno - from 23 to 26 September 2010
The great event I Primi d'Italia is dedicated to the inviting World of First Course Dishes. It is a unique event all on its own; it promotes the culture of the World of first courses and does it in a very original way, plunging the taster in a fascinating universe made of taste and quality, fun, culture and curiosity. Will be here also Biologics Products Village, an important event about promotion of biologic world as model of cultural development.

Eurochocolate
Perugia - from 15 October to 24 October 2010
Perugia seems to be transformed into a gigantic pasticceria, with displays, tastings, exhibitions, all devoted to chocolate. Other local towns and villages become involved, and the best of Italian ‘dolci’ are on display.

Batìk Film Festival
Perugia - December 2010.
Batìk Film Festival presents the cinema of Italian e international filmmakers and dedicates its programming to cinema "unseen", revisited, rediscovered and to films and director’s with new and particular points of view. It is a cultural event based on ’eccentricity’, on the research of experimental cinema, on the international nature of the programming and on cultural exception.

Christmas in Umbria
At Christmas there are concerts of sacred and choral music in many of the towns and villages in the area. Crèches are in all the churches, and there are also enactments of the nativity. In Gubbio, the lights on the hillside spell out ‘the Biggest Christmas Tree in the World.’