Interesting …. Every year people in Cocullo, a small medieval town in Italy's Abruzzo region, adorn a wooden statue of its patron saint with live snakes and parade it through the streets.

The "serpari" festival, on 1 May, honours San Domenico di Sora for miraculously removing snakes from farmers' fields in the 11th Century .

However, it is also said to originate from the ancient worship of Angitia, a Roman goddess of snakes worshipped by people in central Italy.