The Lazio (Rome) region has a tradition of Nativity plays and tableaux, with amateur actors playing the different roles. The custom is said to have been introduced by St. Francis in 1223 in the hamlet of Greccio, near Rieti, and is still followed in many villages in the region, notably Corchiano, near Viterbo, and Sutri, where the scene is enacted in caves and a procession winds its way around the Roman amphitheatre.