Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
During the Middle Ages, the sanctuary marked the end of the Route of the Angel,
which began in Mont St-Michel (in Normandy) and passed through Rome. In 999 the
Holy Roman Emperor Otto III made a pilgrimage to the sanctuary to pray that prophecies
about the end of the world in the year 1000 would not be fulfilled. His prayers were
answered, the world staggered on and the sanctuary's fame grew.
PADRE PIO: SAINT OF THE GARGANO
Pilgrims flock to
San Giovanni Rotondo
, home to Padre Pio, a humble and pious Capuchin priest
'blessed' with the stigmata and a legendary ability to heal the sick. Pio (1887-1968) was canonised in
2002 and immortalised in the vast numbers of prefabricated statues to be found throughout the Gar-
gano. There's even a statue of Pio beneath the waters off the Isole Tremiti.
The ailing Capuchin priest arrived in San Giovanni Rotondo, then a tiny isolated medieval village,
in 1916. As Pio's fame grew, the town too underwent a miraculous transformation. These days, it's a
mass of functional hotels and restaurants catering to eight million pilgrims a year. It's all overlooked
by the palatial Home for the Relief of Suffering, one of Italy's premier hospitals (established by Pio in
1947).
The
Convent of the Minor Capuchin Friars
( 0882 41 71;
www.conventosantuariopadrepio.it;
Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie) includes Padre Pio's
cell
(
7am-7pm summer, 7.30am-6.30pm winter) , a simple room containing mementoes such as his blood-
stained socks. The
old church
, where he used to say Mass, dates from the 16th century. The spectac-
ular
new church
, designed by Genovese Renzo Piano (who also designed Paris' Pompidou Centre),
resembles a huge futuristic seashell, with an interior of bony vaulting. Padre Pio's body now lies in the
geometric perfection of the semicircular crypt.
SITA buses run daily to San Giovanni Rotondo from Monte Sant'Angelo (€2, 50 minutes) and Vi-
este (€6, 2½ hours).
Sights
The town's serpentine alleys and jumbled houses are perfect for a little aimless ambling.
Look out for the different shaped
cappelletti
(chimney stacks) on top of the neat white-
washed houses.
Santuario di San Michele
(Via Reale Basilica; 7.30am-7.30pm Jul-Sep, 7.30am-12.30pm & 2.30-7pm Apr-Jun & Oct,
7.30am-12:30pm & 2-5pm Nov-Mar)
Look for the 17th-century pilgrims' graffiti as you
descend the steps. St Michael is said to have left a footprint in stone inside the grotto, so it
became customary for pilgrims to carve outlines of their feet and hands. Etched Byzantine
GROTTO
