It sounds like an offer too good to refuse – Italy is to give away, for free, more than 100 historic monasteries, castles, stone towers, inns and railway stations.

Many of the properties are situated along historic pilgrimage routes which the government wants to promote, just as Spain attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists along the famous Way of St James, which leads to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela.

The initiative, announced by the State Property Agency, is an attempt to pump new life into struggling rural areas. There is, however, a catch.