Introduction: It’s not unusual that many nurses in hospitals continue to promote obsolete care practices which are handed down and applied by tradition and custom prove to be ineffective and unnecessary, in some cases even dangerous. The expression "sacred cows" appears in America in the 19th century and in Hinduism it refers to the honored state attributed to these animals, a symbol of God's generosity for humanity: it figuratively refers to people or things treated with absolute respect, immune from any criticism or dispute, particularly to old habits and routine care practices based on tradition rather than science. These "sacred monsters" have the absolute respect and therefore it is difficult to get rid of them. Methods: To detect the persistence of sacred care cows not only in a hospital setting but also at university- level and based on an American online study, a survey was carried out using a nursing practice questionnaire with "true-false" closed-ended questions: respondents were hospital and new-graduate nurses and students of central Italy. Results: The percentage of incorrect answers shows the persistence of “non-evidence-based” practices at operative and training level. Overall, findings are consistent with those obtained by the American survey, carried out on a larger sample. Conclusions: Ritual practices, not supported by scientific evidences, are still anchored in nursing, firmly rooted in cultural background of undergraduates, skilled and experienced nurses. Training and work environments fostering the "evidence-based" culture are the greatest weapon that can make nursing free from useless, ineffective if not damaging, traditional practices.