The village of Preci lies at the northern end of the Monte Sibillini Park in Umbria. Perched among rolling hills, sweeping pastures and scatterings of small farms, it seems the unlikeliest place in the world to have spawned a school of celebrated surgeons whose skills were virtually unrivalled in Europe for almost five centuries.

Preci is one of Italy's many secrets, like the works of Renaissance masters in remote and crumbling country churches, the ruins of forgotten ancient cities hidden under fields and the countless small museums full of unexpected treasures tucked away in tiny hamlets.