Let's not forget, Italy's home to the Roman Catholic Church and before that was the land of the Ancient Romans and Etruscans with their many pagan gods and goddesses, nymphs and satyrs. There's no getting away from religion in Italy: the landscape is marked by churches, cemeteries and necropolises…Not to mention the thousands of road-side shrines to the Virgin Mary or other saints. You'll even find small shrines up on the walls of houses, typically next to the front door or on the corner of streets in town…

Here are some of the many sacred destinations and religious events in the Maremma area, at the very edge of the former Papal State.