According to the teaching of the Catholic church, Purgatory is where the souls of sinners go to be purified before they enter heaven. (There’s a common thought that the Catholics did away with the idea of Purgatory in the 1990s but apparently not; it was Limbo that fell out of favour).

But during the 16th and 17th centuries, as the Reformation swept across Europe, the concept of Purgatory was largely disputed by Protestants. The Catholics, though, were having none of it. Their response – in southern Italy in particular – was to build a number of ‘Purgatory’ churches, places dedicated specifically to prayers for those souls who had not yet made it to heaven.

Purgatory churches are unusual, but the Chiesa Santa Maria del Suffragio in Monopoli is one of the most unusual of all – not least because it contains the mummified remains of eight of the church’s earliest and most important lay supporters. Little wonder, then, that this Purgatory church is also known among locals as ‘the church of the dead that walk’.