San Martino di Lupari
San Martino di Lupari lies in the Alta Padovana, halfway between the walled towns of Cittadella and Castelfranco Veneto, in an are...
Updated 11 July 2026
The story
The story of San Martino di Lupari
History and origins
The name San Martino di Lupari first appears in documents from 1231 as 'Luparium', and in 1276 as 'San Martino a Luparo': a place name recalling the wolves that once lived in the woods covering the area. Its medieval history is shaped by its position halfway between the fortified castles of Cittadella and Castelfranco Veneto, strongholds fought over between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by the lordships of Padua and Treviso. Established as an independent municipality in the Napoleonic era, it initially belonged to the province of Vicenza, in the district of Cittadella, before passing under the province of Padua.
What to see and main sights
San Martino di Lupari has no grand monuments of its own, but its position makes it a good base for visiting two of Veneto's more interesting walled towns: Cittadella, with its medieval walls that can be walked in full, and Castelfranco Veneto, the birthplace of the painter Giorgione. Within the municipality stands the parish church and a handful of rural hamlets that keep the traditional layout of Alta Padovana villages, while the rest of the townscape reflects the industrial growth of the late twentieth century.
Local life and economy
The economy of San Martino di Lupari has a strong industrial component, among the most solid in the Alta Padovana: the town is home to OZ, a world leading maker of light alloy wheels for cars and motorcycles, alongside numerous other manufacturing and craft businesses. This productive fabric coexists with farming still present in the more outlying parts of the municipality, in a balance typical of Alta Padovana towns that grew rapidly in the postwar decades.
Food, wine and local produce
Although not primarily a farming town, San Martino di Lupari sits within the broader food and wine context of the Alta Padovana, with local farms and the nearby winemaking tradition of the area between Cittadella and Camposampiero. The prevailing cuisine is that of the Venetian mainland, built around radicchio, cheeses and the white and red wines of the surrounding hills and plain, best sought out in the area's trattorias rather than in any dining scene centred on the town itself.
How to get there and location
San Martino di Lupari lies along the road connecting Cittadella to Castelfranco Veneto, about 30 kilometres from both Padua and Treviso and a short distance from Bassano del Grappa. Its well served road position makes it a convenient base for visiting the area's walled towns or the hills of the Alta Padovana without straying too far from Veneto's main cities.
Experiences not to miss
- Visit the medieval walls of Cittadella, just minutes from San Martino di Lupari
- Explore Castelfranco Veneto and the sites linked to the painter Giorgione
- Walk through the town's rural hamlets for a taste of the farming Alta Padovana
- Explore the hills and wineries between Cittadella and Camposampiero by car or bike
- Stop at local trattorias for mainland Venetian cooking
To see
What to see in San Martino di Lupari
Routes · Trovido Route
Routes in San Martino di Lupari
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