Feast of Sant’Ubaldo – Piagge Week | Pisa

For 44 years, in mid-May (this year from the 15th to the 17th), the Viale delle Piagge comes alive with a thousand colours for the fair also known as “Settimana delle Piagge” (Piagge Week). The tree-lined avenue from Ponte della Vittoria to the church is closed to traffic to make way for over a hundred stalls and stands.

The feast of Sant’Ubaldo has ancient and solemn origins, to the point that in the past it was held in the presence of the major ecclesiastical authorities with a crowd of pilgrims who came to Pisa to receive the blessing. Sant’Ubaldo is still invoked to intercede and ward off the devil and the evils of the mind.

Who was St Ubaldo: Ubaldo Baldassini was born around 1085 into a family of German origin in Umbria. When his father Rovaldo died, the young Ubaldo was entrusted to his uncle who initiated him into religious life, which he undertook with such fervour that he was appointed bishop of Gubbio. He distinguished himself for his constant fight against corruption and his prayers were credited with stopping the fury of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa who had arrived at the city gates. Patron saint of the city of Gubbio, Saint Ubaldo became a reference point of faith far beyond the Umbrian border. In popular tradition, the saint is attributed with the ability to heal ills of the mind and intercede to ward off the devil. The Saint’s devotion in San Michele degli Scalzi in Pisa dates back to the late 18th century.