The Summer of Saint Martin of Tours  (San Martino) gave us another perfect day in Tuscany!

16.11.12

The happy and less happy outcome of the legend of St Martin, patron saint of soldiers , who was born in 316 in Savaria (now part of Hungary) and died in France in 397.

St. Martin’s day is November 11 – and in Tuscany everyone hopes for sunshine because their legend has it that, after St Martin halved his cloak to keep warm the first shivering naked beggar he came across – and then gave the remainder to another pitiful soul he passed on the way – God was so pleased with him that he cancelled the cold frosty spell that had made the 18 year old Knight feel so sorry for them, and in return for his generous care, generated three extra warm summery days to give him – now cold and uncloaked himself – enough time to get home and get another cloak!

The Italians refer to this phenomenon as L’Estate de San Martino and certainly this year we have enjoyed three wonderful bright sunshiny days with the bluest sky you could ever wish for!

St Martin is remembered in Florence in the church of San Martino del Vescova, which is near the City Centre in the Piazzetta di San Martino .  This Church, which is dedicated to the patron saint of soldiers, is special because the people that benefit from their charity were often noblemen, or more often their widows, who had fallen on hard times and were ashamed to admit that they needed help.

There is still a box under the tabernacle shown in the image above which asks for donations for the “poveri vergognosi” – in English we would say the “ashamed poor”.

The Buonomini – or Goodfellows- who collected this money were also responsible for it’s distribution to worthy causes – and also for ensuring that when the money was running out, a candle was lighted in the window in front of this painting of Saint Martin, so that the richer people of Florence would know that some of their friends were down to their last candle, and therefore in dire need of assistance.

Of course, there are different versions of the story and in the story of the early life of Saint Martin written by Sulpicius Severus (who knew him personally) after his impulsive act of generosity Martin dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak he had given away and when he woke up, his military cloak was returned as new.

It is this version of the story that Domenico Ghirlandaio chose to depict on either side of  the altar showing two scenes from the life of Saint Martin of Tours – the first dividing the cloak and in the second one shown below Jesus and some angels are shown delivering a new one!

The less happy end to St Martin’s Day was that in the UK and parts of Eastern Europe in the 4th Century it was the last day of Feasting before the onset of Advent – when they had to endure a full 40 days of fasting before Christmas.

Grazia Guiliani also mentions the end of plenty denoted by the feast of San Martino, and pointed out one of her recipes in her book was designed for this Saint’s day. It is called Monte Bianco and involves converting a mountain of chestnuts (2.1/4lbs) and 1.1/2 litres of full cream milk and 5.1/2 oz of Amaretti biscuits into a puréed mountain of mixture covered in 8.1/2 fl.oz of whipped cream! For full details of how to make this yummy pud – written in English you will have to buy her new recipe book Versatile! 

The best known celebration of St Martin’s  Saints day worldwide these days is that it is the official date of the Armistice with Germany that confirmed the end of the first World War.

It  has certainly been a good time to be in Florence – a great time to get out and enjoy the Estate of San Martino