A study of the general scope and geographical distribution of religious place names
2. In Italy, sacred toponyms which derive from the names of Maria di Nazareth and San Pietro are present everywhere, even though with varied intensity,
2. In Italy, sacred toponyms which derive from the names of Maria di Nazareth
was introduced by the Normans and is reflected in toponyms such as Sant’Etiena (Campania) or Sant’Aloia (Basilicata) and even Sant’Aloi, San Loe (Sicily), San Metaro (Puglia) (PELLEGRINI 1990: 402, CARACAUSI 1993).
The devotion to San Gottardo is reflected on some place names in Northern Italy; it is rarely present south of the River Po, completely non-existent south of the city of Bologna (ROHLFS 1972: 86). San Gottardo (960–1038), bishop of Hildesheim, is invoked against lightning and hailstorms.
The cult of San Germano, which can refer either to the bishop of Auxerre or to the bishop of Paris, is widely present in Piemonte. The toponym San Germano Vercellese is directly connected to this devotion; in this case, it is interesting to remember that the bishop of Auxerre came to Vercelli in 425 during one of his various preaching journeys (DTI).
The worship of San Venanzio, martyr and patron of Camerino (whose cele-bration falls on 18th May), which is superposed on to one of several other saints with a similar name, is present mostly in the region of Umbria, in Marche and in Emilia–Romagna and is at the root of the toponym San Venanzo (Umbria; whose patron is San Venanzio), of San Venanzo, the name of two towns in Marche, and of San Venanzio two towns located in Emilia–Romagna (see IMBRIGHI 1957 and DTI).
San Vigilio, bishop of Trento and martyr at the end of the 4th century (whose celebration falls on 26th June), is at the origin of the various places named San Vigilio in Lombardia and Trentino. According to his biography, San Vigilio, as bishop for a period of fifteen years, converted all the area from the Adige River to the Oglio River, even though his work and his fame were not known beyond this area (see IMBRIGHI 1957 and GRASSO 1900, particularly p. 5).
The devotion to San Canziano (or Canciano) is typical of the Friuli region and is reflected on the toponym San Canzian d’Isonzo, documented from 819 as vico Sanctorum Cantianorum and around 1100 as S. Cancianus. The oldest testimony refers to the martyrs from Aquileia Canziano, Canzio and Canzianilla.
San Frediano is the name of two places in Tuscany but it can be found also in the urban toponymy in Florence, deriving from San Frediano bishop of Lucca, who lived in the 6th century and whose celebration falls on 18th March.
The worship of Sant’Elpidio is present especially in the region of the Marche, and from it derive: Sant’Elpidio a Mare, Sant’Elpidio a Morico (Marche) and Sant’Elpidio (in Lazio) (see IMBRIGHI 1957 and DTI).
In Southern Italy it is possible to find toponyms referring to saints connected with the influence of the Greek church such as San Procopio, San Calogero and many others. From San Gavino, whose worship is deeply rooted all over Sardinia (where many churches are sacred to this saint), derives the toponym
San Gavino Monreale.7 Sardinia is the centre from which the devotion to this saint developed; his name is also found in some place names in Corsica and in a town situated in the Tuscan Appennine region (ROHLFS 1972: 88).
Tuscany is the focus from which the devotion of Santa Reparata (patron saint of the cathedrals of Pisa and Florence) developed. Her name can also be found in some toponyms in Tuscany, Sardinia, Abruzzo and even in Corsica (ROHLFS
1972: 88).
It can be also observed that the word saint appears with different meanings:
i.e. Santa Croce, which is present in toponyms such as Santa Croce del Sannio (Campania), Santa Croce sull’Arno (Tuscany) and even Santa Spina (Calabria), Santa Luce (Tuscany). Santissima Trinità is also present in some toponyms as Trinità, which can be found in different places in Piemonte, such as Santa Trinità (Campania), Trinità d’Agultu (Sardinia), Trinitapoli (Puglia) (see DTI).8 It is useful to consider the place name Santopadre (Lazio) as well, which is linked, according to folk tradition, to the local patron saint, San Folco, named Santo Padre because of the many miracles attributed to him. Upon his return from the Holy Land in the 7th century, San Folco decided to settle here instead of his native country (England).9
The toponym Santa Quaranta (present in three towns of Southern Italy) refers to the once widely diffused worship of the Quaranta Martiri, since a saint with this name does not exist (ROHLFS 1972: 82).
3. There is not a single region in Italy without a certain number of patrociny settlement names. According to IMBRIGHI’s estimation,10 the place names deriving from them represent more or less 20% of all the place names; about 3% are toponyms resulting from San Pietro, 8% from Maria di Nazareth while
7 It was known as San Gavino until 1866; the new name is due to the fact that the town is located close to Monreale castle (DTI). Both Gavino and Gavina are typical Christian names in Sardinia.
8 The name Trinitapoli ‘city of the Holy Trinity’, a Greek-like form created in order to ennoble it, is of recent origin, dating back to 1863, while in vernacular tradition it is known as u Casàle ‘the farmhouse’. The village, which once was apparently known as Casale de Palia, had been called Casale de Fabrica and around the 12th century Casale della Trinità or Casal-trinità, as it was donated by the Benedictine monks of the Holy Trinity Abbey in the Monte Sacro on Gargano.
9 In some place names, traces of pagan forms of worship and folk beliefs are evident, as in Settefrati (Frosinone) a form created with the number sette ‘seven’, traditionally believed to carry magic powers. According to the tradition, the name was given to the place by Benedictine monks in order to commemorate the seven sons of Santa Felicita, murdered in Rome in the 2nd century during Christian persecutions (see DTI).
10 IMBRIGHI used a map of Italy scale 1 : 250 000 published by Touring Club Italiano.
the remaining are patrociny settlement names. Obviously, the percentage data is based on names whose origin from a saint’s name is clear.
Toponyms of sacred origins are concentrated especially in some regions of Italy: Emilia–Romagna, Piemonte, Lombardia, Tuscany, Veneto, Campania, Marche; the regions with the lowest number of patrociny settlement names are Sardinia, Valle D’Aosta and Basilicata (see IMBRIGHI 1957).11
The most frequent place names are those referring to Maria di Nazareth, both in the form of Santa Maria (the most frequent of all) and of Madonna, also in the rare term of endearment Madonnina and Madonnetta. The names Nostra Signora and Beata Vergine are quite rare and are generally linked to the presence of sanctuaries (Nostra Signora della Vittoria and Nostra Signora di Montallegro in Liguria, Nostra Signora del Monte and Nostra Signora di Gonare in Sardinia; Beata Vergine and Beata Vergine del Soccorso in Lombardia; Vergine Maria in Sicily, which is in the city of Palermo). The recurrent presence of toponyms referring to the cult of Mary is due to many different reasons: the presence of a place of worship sacred to the Holy Virgin;
the expression of gratitude to Mary for the deliverance from some danger; the influence of religious orders, especially those committed to the diffusion of the cult of the Virgin (see IMBRIGHI 1954). In short, there are many elements that explain the secular devotion and adoration in Italy of the Holy Virgin.
The next group with the highest frequency are the toponyms related to San Pietro Apostolo (Simon Pietro di Bethsaida) (see IMBRIGHI 1953), considered by the Roman Catholic Church its first pope, whose worship thoroughly penetrated the Italian peninsula. These toponyms are usually in the form San Pietro, even though there can be some popular variations like San Piero, San Pier as in the case of San Pier d’Isonzo (Friuli–Venezia Giulia).12
According to the evaluations made (IMBRIGHI 1957: 26), the place names attributed to the Madonna number 2133, compared to San Pietro 643, followed by San Martino 160, San Giovanni 128, San Lorenzo 79, San Giorgio 68, Sant’Andrea 65, San Michele 64; among the female saints the most common is Santa Lucia with 45 topomyms.
Some names of saints are not frequent as patrociny settlement names; for in-stance, in some cases there is only one example, at least in the macrotoponymy (towns and hamlets in Italy). For example, Sant’Olcese (Liguria), whose name resumes the legend of the bishops Olcese and Claro, who escaped from
11 If considering the density of patrociny settlement names compared to the population, the regions with the highest percentage are Valle d’Aosta and Umbria.
12 It has also officially acquired the local place name while until 1932 its official name was San Pietro all’Isonzo.
Gallia following the invasion of the Vandals and of the Alani people and who lived in Val Polcevera until their death.13
Amongst the toponyms deriving from a saint’s name documented just once there is San Lupo (in Campania), attested in the form of Sancto Lupulo in Valle Telesie in 1150. It results from the saint’s name San Lupo, bishop of Troyes, whose celebration falls on 29th July (DTI).
San Prisco (Campania) is called so because it arose in Late-Antiquity near a Christian cemetery where San Prisco was buried. The saint, first bishop of Capua, according to the tradition, was one of Jesus’s followers who accom-panied Saint Peter in Italy (DTI). San Miniato (Tuscany) is the name of a town which developed around a church sacred to the Florentine martyr San Miniato; in the past, it was called also San Miniato del Tedesco because the town was the residence of imperial vicars from the time of the kingdom of Ottone I (DTI). The toponym Sant’Alfio (in Sicily) derives from San Alfio (patron of the town together with San Filadelfo and San Cirino); Sant’Alfio is known in dialect as Santarfi a vara, literally Sant’Alfio la Bara, to distinguish it from the near village of Trecastagni, locally known as Santarfiu, which means Sant’Alfio, because of a very famous religious celebration dedicated there to Sant’Alfio (see DTI).14 Santa Fiora (Tuscany) derives its name from a nearby church of ancient foundation sacred to Santa Fiora and Santa Lucilla.15 A Sicilian town founded in the 18th century resumes the name of its patron saint Santa Ninfa. Martyr of the faith, she was the daughter of the Prefect of Palermo; her celebration falls on 10th November. The name of San Dalmazzo (or Dalmazio) is rare as well, and it is reflected in the toponym Borgo San Dalmazzo (Piemonte) documented since 1098 as Sanctus Dalmacius, then in 1166 as Burgus Sancti Dalmacij. According to the tradition, San Dalmazzo was martyred in that place and to commemorate him a church was built in 450, around which a Benedectine abbey arose in the 7th century (DTI).
In some cases the assignment of a patrociny settlement name has been added in recent times to a previous toponym in order to avoid homophones or to resume an ancient tradition or for some different reasons.16 So, for instance, Mosciano Sant’Angelo (Abruzzo) had been named Mosciano up until 1863 when it took the current form which recalls the ecclesia S. Angeli in Musano
13 The toponym was handed down in the 12th century as plebeio sancti Ursicini, sancto Olaxio, Laxio, Yrsicino, while a tombstone dated 1155, kept in the parish church, commemorates the finding of Ursicino’s body in 1155 (DTI).
14 This religious celebration is also mentioned in the novel “I Malavoglia” by G. Verga.
15 The town is located in the province of Grosseto; another town with that name can be found in the province of Arezzo (see IMBRIGHI 1957, DTI).
16 See also note 5.
of the medieval documents and the badia di Sant’Angiolo a Mosciano of the 18–19th century. Ripe San Ginesio (Marche) derives its patrociny settlement name from the proximity with the town of San Ginesio which, in its own turn, derives its name from the patron saint.17
A patrociny settlement name could have replaced a previous name, like Santa Maria del Cedro (Calabria) established in 1968 instead of Santa Maria which, in 1955, replaced the previous Cipollina (while in dialect Cipullina is still currently in use) (DETI, DTI).
A change in the place name can depend on the birth of a new town hall. For instance, the town of Soriasco (Lombardia) acquired the name of Santa Maria della Versa in 1893, la Madòna in vernacular, because the town hall was placed in the neighbourhood of Santa Maria della Versa; thus, Soriasco became a hamlet (DETI, DTI).
The written testimonials of a name are sometimes unreliable. This is evident upon considering the origin of the name Sant’Antonino di Susa (town in Piemonte) which in various medieval documents is quoted as Antolino (and in some other variations) probably due to a phonetic mistake to exclude its interpretation as a diminutive of the well known Sant’Antonio. This hagionym has at its origin Sant’Antonino, a martyr from Apamea in Syria (DTI).
For some toponyms, which seem to derive from saint’s name, the saint has not yet been identified, as in the case of Sant’Avignone (the name of a town in Sicily).
4. In Italian toponymy there are some names that seem to find their origins in