While St. Martin’s day is November 11, in Tuscany everyone hopes for sunshine because the legend says that, after St Martin halved his cloak to keep warm the first shivering naked beggar he came across, God was so pleased that he cancelled the cold frosty spell and 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, the Summer of San Martino: St Martin is remembered in Florence in the church of San Martino del Vescovo, which is near the City Centre in the Piazzetta di San Martino. This Church is dedicated to the patron saint of soldiers and 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.
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