The inhabitants of the Appennine mountains in Marche (central Italy), especially the men, often used to have tattoos on their forearms near their wrists. Until a few decades ago it was common to see farmers in the fields with their sleeves rolled up to show bluish tattoos: a figure, a motto, a cross, the symbols of the Passion with the sun, the moon and the Holy Spirit, one or two pierced hearts, sometimes below a cross on top of a globe, a star and so on.

The story goes that the Sacred House of Nazareth (the stable where Jesus was born) known as the "Casetta" in Italian, flew away from there to escape from persecution by the Turks during the night of 10 December 1292 and landed in a wood of laurel trees, Laurus in Latin, which gave the town its name of Loreto.
The laurel trees parted to let the stable land. It immediately became a major pilgrimage destination and the Sanctuary of Loreto was built on the site.

The pilgrimage to the sanctuary passed through Loreto first and then continued towards the convent of Sirolo. The convent was founded by Saint Francis and it appears that the tattooing tradition in Loreto originated with the stigmata of the Saint, and were an attempt to reproduce them symbolically. In fact all the tattoos were positioned on the forearms or the hands themselves. These tattoos therefore have a mystical origin and even the romantic ones are like an oath sworn to God.  This tradition, which resembles a religious ceremony, dates back to the papacy of Sisto V, who was from Marche himself and belonged to the order of Saint Francis.

The subjects of the Loreto tattoos, which were initially simple, primitive reproductions of the stigmata, over time began to represent different religious symbols: the Madonna of Loreto, the Christ of Sirolo, marks that identified one's order, nautical tattoos and finally signs of love. In fact, brides were tattooed with the symbol of the Holy Spirit for good fortune and promise, while widows had a skull and crossbones or the words "Memento mori" (literally: "remember that you must die") and the name of the deceased.
Another explanation for the origin of the Loreto tattoos refers to the time of the Crusades, when Crusaders got tattoos of religious symbols to distinguish themselves from their enemies and also because the Church at the time would not carry out a Christian burial for anyone who died a violent death and did not carry any sign of their religion.

These tattoos were carried out by the monks of the sanctuary. First they roughly pressed the design using wooden blocks with the various subjects carved into them. The stamp was covered in ink and then pressed onto the skin to apply the design. Then using a ‘pen' made of three metal needles tied to a handle with thick string, they made a series of close holes around the outline of the design. They then stretched the skin to make it bleed and spread blue ink over it, which entered the wound and made a permanent design.
The tradition of tattoos as an act of devotion remained in use in Loreto until at least 1950.