Churches of S. Venanzo

St. Venantius,
patron saint of the town.

As frequently with saints, there are many who bore the name. The saint venerated in this Umbrian town is usually identified with the most famous St. Venantius, a 15‑year‑old Roman boy from Camerino said to have been beheaded there in the mid‑3c. This plaster statue (19c or more probably 20c) in the parish church shows him of the right age, but represents him as a Roman soldier, for which he would have been too young; and in fact tradition says nothing about his having been a soldier.

St. Venantius became the object of a cult widespread in central Italy, and various local tales have accreted to his legend to account for its presence. Here, the saint is said to have been taken to Rome to be judged, and to have passed thru the area on his way back: neither part of this is likely, and anyone returning to Camerino from Rome would have taken the eastern branch of the Via Flaminia, which is nowhere near here.