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Beach-goers in the Campania resort of Mondragone are in for a more spiritual sunbathing experience this summer as nuns from a nearby convent take to the sand to pray.
The sisters have transformed two changing room huts into a sacristy and have set up an altar under two tents on the beach where bathers can join the nuns in reciting the rosary.
According to local Passionist priest Antonio Rungi, who masterminded the scheme, around 200 people joined in the first service on Monday evening.
''The beach-convent formula is popular with the holiday-makers and the sisters,'' Rungi said.
In the last few years Rungi has been working to turn the Caserta coast into a pastoral haven for beach-goers and has even opened a ''listening centre'' where people can tell their troubles before taking a dip in the sea.