San Giovanni Rotondo It is today one of the most important locations in the Gargano and the whole of Puglia, about 40 km from Foggia.
The association is now automatic, for everyone San Giovanni Rotondo is Padre Pio. Moreover, the Saint spent over 50 years of his earthly life there, leaving indelible marks of his work for the relief of suffering and a spirituality that spread among the local people, who were simple and hospitable.
Padre Pio's fame had already spread so widely in the 1950s that the construction of a new church was necessary next to that of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the only one existing at that time. San Giovanni was still a small, isolated village, far from being ready to become a stable destination for so many faithful.
It Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie stands next to the old church, and was inaugurated in 1959.
Padre Pio died on 23 September 1968, and the canonisation process began as early as 1969, concluding only in 2002, when he was proclaimed a Saint by Pope John Paul II.
Over the years, the flow of pilgrims has grown exponentially and the country has developed rapidly to accommodate them, acting as a further boost to the economy of the entire Gargano, already an established tourist destination for the unspoiled beauty of its beaches and landscapes, and the charm of small towns like Vieste, Peschici and Monte Sant'Angelo.
A flame of hope for the entire global Catholic community, Saint Pius draws millions of devotees to San Giovanni Rotondo every year. In 2004, after more than a decade of work, the splendid was inaugurated and consecrated. Church of San Pio. Designed by the architect Renzo Piano, it is the second largest church in Italy, after St. Peter's in the Vatican. It fully fulfils the function of welcoming pilgrims, with 7,000 seats and impressive-sized churchyardan undertaking of high engineering and notable artistic value, as well as religious, which is worth visiting even independent of purely spiritual motivations.
Following the exhumation in 2008 and the transfer to the new church in 2010, since 2013 the body of Saint Pio is permanently displayed to the faithful in the Crypt created by the Jesuit priest Marko Ivan Rupnik, accessible directly from the cemetery.
San Giovanni Rotondo, profoundly transformed by this sudden fame, has retained its core intact rural villagea fascinating network of narrow streets and alleyways, where one can still sense the memory of a simple life, of ancient trades and daily habits. The life of a small community, which used to gather in what is now called Via Castellana, for centuries a place for strolls and a meeting point for young people.
Autoservizi Salemi buses travel daily from Sicily to Puglia and vice versa. You leave in the afternoon (or early evening, depending on the point of departure) and arrive at San Giovanni Rotondo around 10 the following morning. Potentially, it's possible to leave on the same day (around 6 PM), although it's preferable to plan at least one overnight stay in the area. In autumn the climate is still very pleasant, and the Gargano offers many tourist opportunities: we advise you to combine spirituality with the emotions of naturalistic beauty, after all, there is a convergence…
