If you are in Venice on Monday, November 11th, you may meet children beating pots and lids.
What happens in the city on St. Martin’s Day?
On St. Martin’s Day, children go around the calli, armed with pots and lids to “batter San Martino”, singing a nursery rhyme to receive sweets or a few coins.
San Martin xè andà in sofita
A trovar la so novizia
La so novizia non ghe gera
‘L xè cascà con cul per tera
El s’à messo ‘n boletin
Viva, viva San Martin!
The “batter San Martin” in Venice
The “batter San Martino” is an ancient Venetian tradition.
The feast of St. Martin is very popular and allows each of us to return as a child.
The Venetian cult of this saint is very old. The Church of San Martino, located in the sestiere Castello, dedicated to the saint who cut off his cloak to give it to a poor man who was suffering from the cold, was founded in the 8th century.
Venetians, who love this occasion very much, have always prepared for the occasion the typical cake of San Martino.
A shortbread biscuit covered with chocolate icing and candy that depicts St. Martin on horseback.
A typical cake of the Venetian tradition that today you can also be found in the towns in the province of Padua and Treviso, where the Venetian tradition of San Martino has spread over time.
You can taste the cake of San Martino by buying it in Venetian bakeries.
After an excursion to discover an authentic Venice, during a food and wine tour with cicheti lesson in a Venetian bacaro or along the itinerary to know the ancient crafts of the city, have a break to taste the “horse of San Martino”.
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