What do Saint Valentine’s Day and Olivella have in common?! More than you think 🙂 Both were created in Umbria, known as the green heart of Italy. Umbria located in central Italy is the home of the town of Terni, where St Valentine’s Day was born.
Saint Valentine, the patron saint of love and celebrated worldwide on February 14 is the patron saint of Terni. For those history buffs, this is quite fascinating as Saint Valentine was born in the late 2nd century. He was known to have had the ability to heal people. Therefore he became a popular bishop of Terni.
The story goes that Saint Valentine was arrested and forced to sacrifice to the pagan Gods, which he refused to do. His punishment was proclaimed, death by beheading. Yet before the capital punishment was carried out on February 14th, Saint Valentine gave a hand-written love note to the daughter of the jailer… “from your Valentine!” And thus began the worldwide tradition of writing anonymous love wishes on February 14th.
The remains of St. Valentine’s body were buried in a cemetery on a hill outside the city walls of Terni. Many years later the “Basilica San Valentino” of Terni was built on top of this cemetery, in honor of this romantic patron saint.
Celebrate this year with a new perspective of this cherished holiday. Buon San Valentino and see photos below of Terni, the home of love!
