The Good Friday Procession in Gubbio is a deeply spiritual event dating back to the Middle Ages, and it is one of the oldest and most moving rites of Holy Week in Italy. Its origins are steeped in faith, history, and local culture.

It is a procession that is beautiful to witness and deeply moving to experience. The Miserere, sung by two male choirs in two voices following the statues of the Madonna and Christ, is a poignant and solemn oral tradition chant.

The procession begins at 7:30 PM from the Church of Santa Croce della Foce and winds through the historic center, following a route that in the past allowed the Dead Christ to be “shown” for veneration by monasteries, convents, confraternities, and hospitals. The metallic, mournful sound of the battistrangole accompanies the entire route, announcing the choir and statues along with the symbols of the Passion. Along the way, three large bonfires (focaroni) are lit (in Piazza San Pietro, Via Dante, and Largo San Marziale), as well as two smaller torches (torticci) in Piazza Bosone and Via XX Settembre.

At the end of the long procession, the statues enter the Church of San Domenico, followed by the choirs, where they perform the battifondo: the alternating singing of the ten verses of the Miserere. The battifondo may suggest a kind of musical duel between the two choirs, but everything dissolves into the higher, spiritual meaning of devotion.