The double nature of Gabicce Mare shows also in the great events it hosts. Even though by now this place is characterized by its vocation to a relaxing familiar tourism, it must be remembered that in the past, especially in the Seventies of last century, it was a national hotspot for nightlife and disco music. Mundanity was then frantic and invited the showbiz stars to come and spend evenings in the renowned Gabicce clubs. There is now an event that brings those times back to life adapting them to the new nature of the place. It is Disco Diva, the top Disco Music festival in Italy, born in 2015, which boasts record inflows and hosts famous international singers and DJs, both up-to-date and old fashioned, who make people of all ages sing and dance. Gabicce Mare was also a most important cultural nest, as is shown by the prestigious Debenedetti Literary Prize, that was awarded here under the illustrious presidency of great writer Carlo Bo and was awarded to, or longed for by, poets who marked the story of Italian literature such as Andrea Zanzotto and Giorgio Caproni. Recently, Gabicce decided to relive this noble tradition by creating the “Gabicce in Rosa” (Pink Gabicce) festival, whose name recalls another famous event from the last century’s eighties dedicated to tradition, showbiz and television, called “Rosa a Gabicce” (Pink in Gabicce). The “Gabicce in Rosa” festival offers a very rich and variegated program including debates, musical interludes, meetings dedicated to beauty and wellbeing, and of course a poetic prize open to all, including students. Music is proposed also in the Gabicce Street Contest, for bands and emerging artists, stating the great activity of the city School of Music, where young students are followed and pushed to cultivate their talent by famous maestros. Culture in Gabicce is not just music and poetry: sport too is deeply rooted in the soul of the city, and as such is celebrated. A multi-decades tradition, in particular, is boasted by the International Bicycle Touring Week; very important is also the Granfondo Squali Bike Marathon, born in 2015 and one of the ten most important bike marathons in Italy. Participants to these races discover both the landscape and the enogastronomic wonders of the territory. A mention deserve also the many football tournaments that animate the city in springtime, thanks to a polyvalent sport centre, one of the most high-tech both in Marche and in nearby Romagna. Finally, to state the strong link tying people of Gabicce to the sea, there is every year the suggestive Stella Maris ceremony, during which a statue of the Virgin is carried in a procession in the streets of the city and on the sea, surrounded by children who received their Confirmation and the First Communion who after getting offshore on a boat, at sunset, offer a crown of flowers to the sea. The charm of this ceremony charmed writer Michael Ondaatje, who mentioned it in his novel The English patient, the source for the homonymous most prized movie film.
Gabicce Mare