Gubbio in the context of "Pope Innocent X"

Umbria (/ˈʌmbriə/ UM-bree-ə; Italian: [ˈumbrja]) is a region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Apennine Peninsula. The capital is Perugia. The region has 851,954 inhabitants as of 2025.

The region is characterized by hills, mountains, thick forests, valleys and historical towns such as the university centre of Perugia, Assisi (a World Heritage Site associated with St. Francis of Assisi), Terni, Norcia, Città di Castello, Gubbio, Spoleto, Orvieto, Todi, Castiglione del Lago, Narni, Amelia, Spello and other small cities.

Agostino Steuco (in Latin Agostinus Steuchus or Eugubinus; c. 1497 – 1548) was an Italian humanist, Old Testament scholar, Counter Reformation polemicist and antiquarian. He was born at Gubbio in Umbria. He discoursed on the subject of perennial philosophy and coined the term philosophia perennis.

Inlay covers a range of techniques in sculpture and the decorative arts for inserting pieces of contrasting, often colored materials into depressions in a base object to form ornament or pictures that normally are flush with the matrix. A great range of materials have been used both for the base or matrix and for the inlays inserted into it. Inlay is commonly used in the production of decorative furniture, where pieces of colored wood, precious metals or even diamonds are inserted into the surface of the carcass using various matrices including clear coats and varnishes. Lutherie inlays are frequently used as decoration and marking on musical instruments, particularly the smaller strings.

Perhaps the most famous example of furniture inlay is that of André-Charles Boulle (1642–1732) which is known as Boulle work and evolved in part from inlay produced in Italy during the late 15th century at the studiolo for Federico da Montefeltro in his Ducal Palace at Urbino, in which trompe-l'œil shelving seems to carry books, papers, curios and mathematical instruments, in eye-deceiving perspective. The similar private study made for him at Gubbio is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Alvarez hypothesis posits that the mass extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and many other living things during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event was caused by the impact of a large asteroid on the Earth. Prior to 2013, it was commonly cited as having happened about 65 million years ago, but Renne and colleagues (2013) gave an updated value of 66 million years. Evidence indicates that the asteroid fell in the Yucatán Peninsula, at Chicxulub, Mexico. The hypothesis is named after the father-and-son team of scientists Luis and Walter Alvarez, who first suggested it in 1980. Shortly afterwards, and independently, the same was suggested by Dutch paleontologist Jan Smit.

In March 2010, an international panel of scientists endorsed the asteroid hypothesis, specifically the Chicxulub impact, as being the cause of the extinction. A team of 41 scientists reviewed 20 years of scientific literature and in so doing also ruled out other theories such as massive volcanism. They had determined that a space rock 10–15 km (6–9 mi) in diameter hurtled into earth at Chicxulub. For comparison, the Martian moon Phobos has a diameter of 22 km (14 mi), and Mount Everest is just under 9 km (5.6 mi). The collision would have released the same energy as 100,000,000 megatonnes of TNT (4.2×10 J), over a billion times the energy of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Scheggia Pass is a pass in Italy that marks the division between the Central and Northern Apennines. It is in northern Umbria and lies between Gubbio and Cagli at 632 meters. It opens up as a natural plateau near the border with the territory of the municipality of Cantiano, in the province of Pesaro and Urbino.

Although it is on the border between Umbria and Marche, it does not represent a watershed between the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian sides: in fact, it connects the Burano valley (Metauro basin) to the Sentino valley (Esino basin). The watershed is located further south, between Scheggia and Costacciaro, dividing the Sentino valley from the Chiascio valley.

Christmas in Italy (Italian: Natale, pronounced [naˈtaːle]) begins on 8 December, with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the day on which traditionally the Christmas tree is mounted and ends on 6 January, of the following year with the Epiphany (Italian: Epifania [epifaˈniːa]), and in some areas female puppets are burned on a pyre (called falò), to symbolize, along with the end of the Christmas period, the death of the old year and the beginning of a new one. 26 December (Saint Stephen's Day, in Italian Giorno di Santo Stefano), is also a public holiday in Italy. The Italian term Natale derives from the Latin natalis, which literally means 'birth', and the greetings in Italian are buon Natale (Merry Christmas) and felice Natale (lit. 'happy Christmas').

The tradition of the nativity scene comes from Italy. One of the earliest representation in art of the nativity was found in the early Christian Roman catacomb of Saint Valentine. The first seasonal nativity scene, which seems to have been a dramatic rather than sculptural rendition, is attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi (died 1226). Francis' 1223 nativity scene in Greccio is commemorated on the calendars of the Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican liturgical calendars, and its creation is described by Saint Bonaventure in his Life of Saint Francis of Assisi c. 1260. Nativity scenes were popularised by Saint Francis of Assisi from 1223, quickly spreading across Europe. It seems that the first Christmas tree in Italy was erected at the Quirinal Palace at the behest of Queen Margherita, towards the end of the 19th century. Mount Ingino Christmas Tree in Gubbio is the tallest Christmas tree in the world. In Italy, the oldest Christmas market is considered to be that of Bologna, held for the first time in the 18th century and linked to the feast of Saint Lucy. Typical bearers of gifts from the Christmas period in Italy are Saint Lucy (December 13), Christ Child, Babbo Natale (the name given to Santa Claus), and, on Epiphany, the Befana.