The day starts quietly enough. Street sweepers prepare the city. Church bells call the faithful to worship. And the Grand Canal gently fills with vaporetti water-buses as locals go off to school and work. The Venetian tranquility is, however, abruptly shattered shortly after lunch. Class-fulls of children swarm through the streets singing at the top of their voices and banging pots and pans. Welcome to La Festa di San Martino, or St Martin’s Day!

Local children beat out the rhythm on their pots and pans

Much like Halloween the Venetian festival of San Martino gives children the chance to dress up, overdose on sweets and biscuits and generally make a hullabaloo. But instead of celebrating the dead, San Martino recalls a selfless act of kindness. So just who was San Martino and why is he celebrated?

Bas-relief of San Martino on the Church of San Martino in Castello, Venice…

La Maestra Maldestra

Let’s just get this out in the open right from the start: Italian is not considered a particularly useful language.

Don’t gasp. Don’t cry. Don’t be surprised to hear this coming from me. I may love Italy and all things Italian, but I know the score.

In the grand scheme of the world, not that many people speak Italian. The big discussions between political leaders don’t happen in Italian, and not many people (other than those living in Italy) are forced to learn Italian at school. You don’t need to understand Italian to read Dante any more, and you don’t need to speak Italian to get a job unless you live in Italy. You don’t need it in order to travel around Italy because a ton of people there speak at least some English, and you don’t need it for immediate access to pop culture anywhere outside…