A haven of peace along the pilgrims' route.
A quick walk starting from the castle of San Zeno will bring you to the ancient church of Sant’Antonio in a matter of minutes. Go towards the town center until you reach Palazzo Sanmicheli. Turn left, and walk along its side until you see a little opening in the southern side of the walls, a postern opened in 1925 to make it easier to enter or exit the town. Go out of the walls and go straight on. You will find a little church on your right, a place where history, legend, and traditions meet, powering an aura of charme which makes it dear to the locals. The existence of this church was reported in documents already in the 12th century, ascribing it as the oldest religious building in town. Now it is curled up in a group of dwellings, but in the past it was on an important ancient route next to the via Aemilia Altinate which would cross the territory of Montagnana and get to the towns of Modena and Aquileia. At the time, it was an important stop for soldiers, pilgrim, merchants, or simple peasants who needed some physical or spiritual shelter on their way. Enlarged and decorated more than once, it was run by different monastic orders over the years: the Benedictines, the Antoniti, and according to a reliable study, also by the Templar order which probably stationed here with a hospital to welcome and care for the several pilgrims who got on the Romea Strata to go to Rome for devotion, penance, or redemption. Every year on January 17, on the day dedicated to the Saint there is a lively fair is herd in the town quarter renewing a centuries-old tradition.
