Terni, located in Central Italy, in the heart of the Umbria Region, can boast of being the birthplace of Saint Valentine. Many Italian and foreign cities claim the same credentials regarding the authenticity of the Saint’s birth and the preservation of his relics.

 The Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni is witness that the Patron Saint was born, lived and was buried in this city around 200 A.D.

The excavations carried out in the 1600s under the Basilica and the historical sources reveal that Saint Valentine was deeply tied to these places. Even today, inside the Basilica, despite the destruction and invasions suffered by the city over the centuries, it is possible to visit the urn of Saint Valentine, placed at the end of the 1700s beneath the Basilica’s main altar, a place where many pilgrims go each year to pray to the Saint, Protector of Lovers and Patron of the City of Terni.

 The city is strongly linked to this religious and legendary figure. Unlike other Italian and foreign cities of love that define themselves as cities of love based on their architecture, art and the romance of the places, the City of Terni is a city of love based on the religious and social meanings linked to the feeling of love of which Saint Valentine is witness.

 Terni lives daily the feeling of love in its different forms. From a religious point of view, through the union of a couple that forms a family, Christian love offers principles and examples of life according to which love is fulfilled and spread through the word of God; from a social point of view love is shown in helping the poor and the weakest, in welcoming and comforting people who are alone.

 Terni and Saint Valentine open up to the world and to people who seek and wish to explore the magic of this noble feeling in its different cultural and social forms.