01 · Sabaria
Szombathely
Where he was born, a garrison town in Pannonia. Today in Hungary.
Half a CloakThe route of his life
The places of Saint Martin
Ten places, from the Danube frontier to the Loire. For each one: what happened there, and what a visitor finds now.
02 · Ticinum
Pavia
Where he grew up and where the army took him at fifteen.
03 · Samarobriva
Amiens
The gate, the winter, the cloak.
04 · Borbetomagus
Worms
Where he refused Julian’s gold and offered to walk out unarmed.
05 · Pictavium
Poitiers
Hilary’s city. He came here to learn.
06 · Locociacum
Ligugé
His first monastery, just outside Poitiers. Monks still live there.
07 · Maius Monasterium
Marmoutier
The hut, the caves in the cliff, the copyists.
08 · Caesarodunum
Tours
The city that kidnapped him and kept him for twenty-six years.
09 · Augusta Treverorum
Trier
The imperial court, where he would not flatter anyone.
10 · Condate
Candes-Saint-Martin
Where the Vienne meets the Loire, and where he died.
Walking it
The Via Sancti Martini is a set of signposted routes linking Szombathely and Tours. The Council of Europe recognised it as a European Cultural Route in 2005. The waymark is a small footprint, for the saint who went nearly everywhere on foot.