The Via Sancti Martini

From 2005 European Cultural Itinerary by the Council of Europe.

Saint Martin of Tours is one of the most familiar and recognisable Christian saints and has been venerated since the 4^th century.

He was the Bishop of Tours, whose shrine in Gaul/France was the target of a very important pilgrimage, the equivalent of that to Rome, during the Early Middle Ages, before becoming a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the way to Compostela. For his entire life he tirelessly travelled around Europe, leaving a significant imprint on our collective memory.

Heritage

The Saint Martin of Tours Route links many European towns which were part of the life of Saint Martin, as well as those with a significant architectural heritage of relevance to his veneration: thousands of monuments are dedicated to him, including fourteen cathedrals! These sites also have an intangible heritage that is still alive in the form of legends, traditions and folklore.

A particular characteristic of the Via Sancti Martini is its ramification: it promotes the collaboration between all the States in which the path goes across.

At the beginning, the path started in Hungery and finished in Candes – Saint Martin in France (near Tours, the city where Saint Martin died and the most important city related to the Saint), and went through Slovenia and Italy (Venice, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Brescia, Pavia, Aosta).

It indicates that in Italy the path follow the route of the roman street called Postumia, that reached the harbor of Aquileia.

Travelling today

The traveller can follow the routes that relate to episodes of the saint’s life, cult or folklore. This large set of routes, covering more than 5000 km across and around Europe bears the general name of Via Sancti Martini.
Of special note are 1) the route linking Szombathely (Hungary), the place of his birth, to Tours (France), the place of his grave, via Pavia (Italy), the place of his childhood, and 2) the route linking Tours, where he was a bishop to Worms (Germany) where he left the Roman army and Trier (Germany) where he met the Roman emperor. However, this route also links a great deal of cultural heritage sites on a way going through Austria and Slovakia, and also arriving in Szombathely. Other routes lead to Utrecht in the Netherlands, or to Zaragoza in Spain. Overall, the Saint Martin routes cover more than 10 European countries!