Le fanpage di Facebook dedicate ai santi

This chapter examines Facebook fanpages dedicated to saints, interpreting them as digital spaces of devotion and religious communication. The study adopts a mixed quantitative-qualitative approach, employing digital monitoring tools to navigate the challenges of analyzing religious practices within a constantly changing platform. It highlights both the limits of applying traditional categories to online religion and the need to view these pages as autonomous forms of sacrality production. Findings show that saint-related fanpages often emerge “from below,” created by individual devotees or informal groups, and attract millions of followers. Unlike the global context, in Italy these pages hold particular significance, especially regarding Marian devotion and figures such as Padre Pio and Saint Francis of Assisi. Interactions — likes, comments, shares — reveal an active relationship with the sacred, often expressed through participatory rituals and the posting of “digital ex-votos.” The chapter draws an analogy between fanpages and digital votive shrines (edicole votive 4.0): visible, recognizable spaces where believers connect with the divine, albeit within a commercial environment governed by corporate algorithms. This ambivalence raises questions about authenticity, rituality, and the algorithmic control of digital religious practices. Ultimately, saint-related fanpages represent a privileged laboratory for understanding new morphologies of devotion in the age of social media.