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Religion is an all-pervasive force in Italy and one cannot know the true nature of this country and its people without understanding the role faith plays in Italian life. Travelers to Italy have no choice but to visit the churches, shrines and monasteries if they want to examine some of the greatest art and architecture ever created.

Not to mention the great masterpieces of the Renaissance are mostly religious in nature. Unlike many churches in other European countries, the churches in Italy are not museums and small but active congregations keep even remote parishes alive.

Rome has been a religious capital for thousands of years and the Eternal City is still the focal point for the world's over one billion Roman Catholics. For the faithful traveler a visit to the hundreds of churches within Rome, with their amazing number of holy relics could be a pilgrimage all on its own. The Pope is not only the head of the Catholic Church; he is Bishop of Rome and successor to Rome's first bishop, Saint Peter. However, his title of Pontifex Maximus is of even older origins and dates back to the founding of Rome.

Italy has been a land of deep faith since time immemorial and its landscape is still dotted with the beliefs of the past. Throughout Italy are Christian holy sites that have been venerated for thousands of years, even in pagan times. Countless churches in Italy are built from ancient Roman temples, or above shrines of the old mystery religions such as Mithraism.

Although the daily masses are usually occupied by a dwindling population of old women, and monasteries are almost empty, feast days and religious holidays still see the churches filled to capacity. The shrines and tombs of Catholic Saints including the very popular Saint Francis of Assisi can be found in Italy and still attract thousands of pilgrims each year from all corners of the world. Be it a small mountain chapel in Val d'Aosta or the Norman/Byzantine Cathedral of Monreale in Sicily the faith of the Italian people is well represented.

Catholicism is by far the largest religious group in Italy. (Catholics make up 87.8% of the population, with 36.8% considering themselves practicing Catholics and 30.8% attending Church every Sunday.) However, there are also some important religious minorities.

Roman Catholicism is the largest Christian Denomination in Italy. According to a 2005 survey by Eurispes, 87.8% of the population identified themselves as Catholic; of those, 36.8% considered themselves practising Catholics and 30.8% said they attended church every Sunday.

Italy is united linguistically and religiously although it is diverse culturally.

Roman Catholicism is the majority religion with 85 percent of native-born citizens Catholic, if only nominally, and only 20 percent participate regularly in services of worship.

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government is thought to generally respect this right in practice, not tolerating its abuse, either by government or private action. Thus, there is no state religion and the constitution prohibits state support for private schools but the Catholic Church enjoys some privileges, stemming from its sovereign status and its historical political authority, not available to other faiths.

The Church is allowed to select Catholic teachers, paid by the State, to provide instruction in "hour of religion" courses taught in the public schools although this class is optional, and students who do not wish to attend are free to study other subjects. While in the past this instruction involved Catholic priests teaching Catechism, church-selected instructors now may be either lay or religious, and their instruction should include material relevant to non-Catholic faiths. Problems may arise in small communities where information about other faiths and numbers of non-Catholic communicants are limited.

The status of the Roman Catholic Church in Italy has been determined (since its temporal powers ended in 1870) by a series of accords with the Italian government. The Lateran Pacts of 1929, which were confirmed by the present Constitution, confirms that the State of Vatican City is recognised by Italy as an independent, sovereign entity. While preserving that recognition, in 1984 Italy and the Vatican updated several provisions of the 1929 Pacts, which included the end of Roman Catholicism as Italy's formal state religion.

While most of the population is Roman Catholic there are also significant minorities, which include Protestants and Jews, although the Jehovah's Witnesses form the second largest denomination among native-born citizens, numbering approximately 400,000. Increasing immigration has led to some anti-immigrant sentiment to be directed towards the country's many Muslim immigrants as religion has served as an additional factor differentiating them from native-born citizens.

Immigration, both legal and illegal, continues to add large groups of non-Christian residents, mainly Muslims from North Africa, South Asia, Albania, and the Middle East, who number an estimated one million. Buddhists number some 40,000 of European origin and 20,000 of Asian origin. Scientologists claim to have approximately 100,000 members, Waldensians estimate approximately 30,000 members (concentrated mainly in the north-west), and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) has approximately 20,000 members. A Jewish community of approximately 30,000 persons maintains synagogues in 21 cities. Other significant religious communities include Orthodox churches, small Protestant groups, Japanese Buddhists, the Baha'i Faith, and South Asian Hindus. Recent polls show that approximately 14% of the population consider themselves to be either atheists or agnostics.

The generally good relations among religions has contributed to religious freedom although the influential role played by the Catholic Church in Italian society has led to controversy when church teachings have appeared to influence Catholic legislators on matters of public policy.

 La Santa Sede  Sito Ufficiale della Santa Sede, Sito Ufficiale del Vaticano.
www.va/phome_it.htm

 Official Vatican web site. Several languages supported. News services, Church documents, information on the Popes and departments of the Roman Curia.
http://www.vatican.va/

Piantina della Città del Vaticano - Vatican: the Holy See  
CAP: SCV-00120 ROMA (Città del Vaticano V-00120 E-Roma).
http://www.vatican.va/news_ser vices/press/documentazione/documents/sp_ss_scv/informazione_generale/sp_ss_scv_info-generale_it.html

Piantina della Città del Vaticano - Superficie della Città del ...

www.vatican.va/.../sp_ss_scv_info-generale_it.html

 

Stato della Città del Vaticano - Portale Istituzionale

Portale istituzionale con informazioni sulla struttura del governo
www.vaticanstate.va

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/religion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Italy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Italy

AIFR - Associazione Italiana di Filosofia della Religione (Aifr)Associazione Italiana di Filosofia della Religione (Aifr). www.aifr.it/aifr/

Churches Italy, churche Italy, list of churches Italy
List of churches Italy with time table, closing day, ticket prices, reductions, churches of Italy.
http://chiese.saperviaggiare.it/inglese/default-churches.html

churches abruzzo
churches aosta valley
churches apulia
churches basilicata
churches calabria
churches campania
churches emilia romagna
churches friuli venezia giulia
churches latium
churches liguria
churches lombardy
churches marches
churches molise
churches piedmont
churches sardinia
churches sicily
churches trentino-south tyrol
churches tuscany
churches umbria
churches veneto

Churches of Italy Over 500 churches, most of them medieval. Each has at least one large photo; often more, in one or more pages of text.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Ital y/_Topics/churches/home.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Churches_in_Italy

CHURCHES IN FLORENCE   

 Sant'Ambrogio
 SS. Annunziata
 Santi Apostoli
 Badia of Florence
 Baptistery
 Santa Croce
 Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore)
 Santa Felicita
 San Firenze
 San Gaetano
 San Lorenzo
 San Marco
 Santa Maria del Carmine
 Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi
 Santa Maria Maggiore
 Santa Maria Novella
 San Miniato al Monte
 Ognissanti
 Orsanmichele
 Santo Spirito
 San Remigio
 Santa Trinita
 The Chartreuse of Florence

STATO DEL VATICANO

What is the address of the Vatican Church in Rome?
In: Catholicism, Popes, Vatican City

Visita i Luoghi Sacriwww.holyland-pilgrimage.org/it
Vieni e Scopri le Origini della Fede Cristiana

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI PP.
00120 Via del Pellegrino
Citta del Vaticano

OR

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Apostolic Palace
VATICAN CITY

OR

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Vatican City State, 00120
Italy
OR
http://vatican.usembassy.gov/Vatican/Writing.asp
E-mail: [ benedictxvi@vatican.va ]

Vatican: the Holy See