Anywhere Italy

Feste

10 comuni that share a patron saint and nothing else

Giovanni Battista is the most widely shared verified patron in the catalogue. These 10 comuni keep the same saint across different regions, coasts and altitudes, and share nothing else at all.

Patron saints repeat. A handful of names cover a large share of Italy's calendar, and the towns that share one form an accidental family: same saint, same date, nothing else in common.

The comuni below share the most widely spread verified patron in the catalogue, across regions that otherwise trade nothing. Same candles, different worlds.

  1. 1.MonteferranteGiovanni Battista, 24 JuneChieti · AbruzzoAt 800 meters on a terrace above the Sangro valley, a 12th-century Caracciolo feud of 106 people facing Lake Bomba and the Maiella.
  2. 2.Castelvecchio SubequoGiovanni Battista, 24 JuneL'Aquila · AbruzzoAt 409 meters under Monte Sirente, the Roman Superaequum and Franciscan station where the saint himself built a convent between 1221 and 1261.
  3. 3.GizzeriaGiovanni Battista, 24 JuneCatanzaro · CalabriaAn Arbëreshë hill village at 600 meters above the Gulf of Sant'Eufemia, with kitesurf beaches and brackish lagoons on the Tyrrhenian below.
  4. 4.LetinoGiovanni Battista, 29 AugustCaserta · CampaniaAt 961 meters the highest commune in the province of Caserta, where in April 1877 anarchists declared a Republic of Letino in the village hall.
  5. 5.Vietri sul MareGiovanni Battista, 24 JuneSalerno · CampaniaThe eastern end of the Amalfi Coast at 80 meters, the ceramics town since the fifteenth century, the gateway between Salerno and the cliff road.

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  1. 6.San Giovanni in MarignanoGiovanni Battista, 24 JuneRimini · Emilia-RomagnaA walled Conca-valley borgo, granary of the Malatesta state, where the Notte delle Streghe has marked the summer solstice since 1988.
  2. 7.SpilambertoGiovanni Battista, 24 JuneModena · Emilia-RomagnaA 69-meter Po-plain town on the Via Romea, headquarters of the Consorteria that codifies Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena since 1967.
  3. 8.CasperiaGiovanni Battista, 24 JuneRieti · LazioA Sabina hill village named Aspra in Virgil's Aeneid, called that until 1947, ringed by walls from 1282 and Sabina DOP olive groves below.
  4. 9.CervoGiovanni Battista, 23 JuneImperia · LiguriaA hilltop village on the Riviera di Ponente built by coral fishermen, named for the Roman mansio on the Via Julia Augusta.
  5. 10.RiomaggioreRiomaggioreGiovanni Battista, 24 JuneLa Spezia · LiguriaThe easternmost of the Cinque Terre, 1,326 people stacked above a fishing inlet, terraced vineyards climbing 250 meters straight off the sea.

We write about towns like these every Sunday, one town a week, with the photo, the food, the festa. Free, from Pietrasanta.

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