Valentine’s Day is celebrated almost everywhere in the world on February 14th, but few destinations are as romantic as our Florence. Every little part of the city is an invitation for lovers: there is so much beauty that a simple walk becomes an unforgettable event, an ode to love.
The celebration is named after the Christian saint and martyr Valentine of Terni, and was established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, replacing the Lupercalia, the ancient pagan rites dedicated to the god of fertility Faunus, in his meaning of Lupercus as protector of livestock (from wolves) and fields.
Born in Interamna Nahars, now Terni, in 176 AD, Valentine was a Roman bishop who had been martyred. He was chosen as the patron saint of lovers because legend has it that he was the first religious person to celebrate the union between a pagan legionary and a young Christian woman, defending, therefore, the free choice of one’s partner. He also distinguished himself, during his evangelization work, as a healer of epileptics.
The recurrence, as we know it today, is more recent and refers to love notes that Charles, Duke of Orleans, wrote in the 15th century – while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London after his defeat at the Battle of Agincourt (1415, in context of the Hundred Years’ War) – to his wife, calling her “sweet Valentine”.
The name Valentine is also found in Shakespeare’s Hamlet of 1601, when Ophelia sings: ” Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s day, all in the morning betime, and I a maid at your window, to be your Valentine”. The love note, the so-called “valentine”, found the greatest success with its marketing, desired by the American entrepreneur Esther Howland (who had understood its potential).
Love is beautiful, but it is not celebrated in all countries. On the contrary, it’s even banned in some states, as Pakistan and Indonesia. But we are in Italy, in one of the most romantic cities in the world, and on every February 14 love is all around!