Calcata (locally Cargata) is a comune and town in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Lazio, located 47 kilometres (29 mi) north of Rome by car, overlooking the valley of Treja [it] river.

In the 1930s, the hill town's fortified historic centre was condemned by the government for fear that the volcanic cliffs the ancient community was built upon would collapse.

Many of the squatters eventually purchased their homes, the government reversed its condemnation order, and the residents of what had become an artistic community began restoring the ancient town.

"[3] The love of artists for this place, together with the interest of the inhabitants of nearby Rome, who come here to relax on weekends, has made this village one of the most enchanting and culturally vibrant in central Italy.

[4] In reality, it was more than two years before 11 October 1962, the date when the Second Vatican Council began, that a 25 July 1960 decree of Pope John XXIII[5] enacted a wide-ranging revision of the General Roman Calendar, which included changing the name of the 1 January feast from "Circumcision of the Lord and Octave of the Nativity" to "Octave of the Nativity", with no change of the Gospel reading about the circumcision of the child Jesus.

[6] Roger Peyrefitte, in his novel Les Clés de Sainte Pierre (1955),[7] written using information attributed to Mgr Léon Gromier (1879–1965), Canon of St. Peter's, gives details of the 1954 discussion of such relics and of a pilgrimage to Calcata, including what appears to be an authentic description of the relic as: "two greyish membranes with an undertone of pink, curled into balls" lying on a crystal disk.