Everyone knows that Santa will be doing the rounds at Christmas, squeezing down chimneys, knocking back glasses of whiskey, leaving presents under trees and ho-ho-ho-ing all the way back to the North Pole in his flying sled. Or – and you’ll want to ask children to look away at this point – will he actually just be lying dead beneath a church named after him in a port in southern Italy?

The town of Bari, located on the heel of Italy’s boot, has laid claim to this alternate Santa story for nearly 1,000 years after the bearded gift-giver’s remains were said to have been interred beneath a church that bears his name.