The legend of Sant' Uberto

Villa Sant’Uberto owes its name to the place where it is located and to the patron of hunters and woodguards: Saint Hubertus. Very scarce and fragmentary information is available about the saint’s life. The legend tells the story of Hubertus, a Belgian nobleman, who was a cunning hunter and conducted a very dissolute life following the untimely death of his wife. On a Good Friday, during a shooting party (without taking care of the special day devoted to The Lord), he saw a shining cross on the head of a deer and heard God calling his name. He went down on his knees and listened to God’s divine words: “Do not forget that eternal life is beyond things belonging to this world”. The deer was safe and the event marked Hubertus life: he gave his title of nobility away, together with all his properties. He devoted the rest of his life to preaching, in particular by poor villages dioceses, still very far away from Christianity. The locality of Sant’Uberto and the woods surrounding it, very well-known for the presence of animals characteristic of the Chianti area, (in particular wild boars and deers) owes its name to Saint Hubertus, this represent a sort of hunters and woodguards homage to their patron saint.