Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Monte Sant'Angelo
POP 13,300 / ELEV 796M
One of Europe's most important pilgrimage sites, this isolated mountaintop has an ex-
traordinary atmosphere. Pilgrims have been coming here for centuries - and so have the
hustlers, pushing everything from religious kitsch to parking spaces.
The object of devotion is the Santuario di San Michele. Here, in AD 490, St Michael
the Archangel is said to have appeared in a grotto to the bishop of Siponto. He left behind
his scarlet cloak and instructions not to consecrate the site as he had already done so.
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 Gargano. There's even a statue of Pio be-
neath 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 spectacular
new church
, designed by Genovese Renzo Piano (who also designed Par-
is' 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 Vieste (€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.
