Most people who head to Italy to see art tend to pick the largest and best known museums and works of art that we all know and love. They hop on a plane and book Florence or Rome apartments and head straight for the iconic classics that are portrayed so often in popular culture.

The Uffizi gallery in Florence for example houses some of the best loved works of art such as Botticelli's the Birth of Venus or Da Vinci's Annunciation. You can easily spend a few days in Florence visiting the Uffizi and other well-known museums, but it would be a shame as you are missing out on so many other beautiful works.

In fact many of the most moving works of art are housed not in the museums but in the churches of Italy. Renaissance art is very religious and many of the paintings, frescos and sculptures were originally commissioned to sit in churches and cathedrals.

While many paintings have now moved to the museums, more still are still in their original intended place and can be visited easily – and often free of charge.

As an example, that iconic painting, the Last Supper, by Da Vinci, shows the biblical Last Supper between Christ and his disciples. It sits not in a museum but in the church of Santa Maria Delle Grazie in Milan and is often missed on many art tours.