Valentine's Day is upon us: like every year, the anniversary of the celebration of lovers falls on February 14, during the cold of mid-winter that will be warmed by the love of your partner. But where does the party of lovers we know today really come from?

From 13 to 15 February in Ancient Rome it was inevitable to celebrate the "Lupercalia", holidays dedicated to the god Faun, during which the cycle of death, purification and rebirth of nature was celebrated. One of the peculiar practices of the entire festival involved women being hit by young men armed with branches, alluding to the ancestral and divine condition of free sexuality: thanks to this rite, women received a blessing that propitiated their fertility.