Religious sites of interest

Europe >  Italy > APULIA -> GARGANO             -     Italy > APULIA -> SALENTO

There are different ways to get to the Gargano National Park; but whatever way you use to access this earthly paradise, you will be greeted with the perspectives of an architecture replete with true history, religious influences and fascinating traditions.
Churches, abbeys, monasteries and sanctuaries arc places of devotion steeped in history. This is the Park of the Spirit, with its Christian and pagan roots that dig down deeply into other ages.
Ever since ancient times, Nature - splendici yet mysterious - has made this land most hospitable towards worship.
The cults of the archaic divinities, the burial and fertility rites, the creeds and suggestions of the people - isolated as they were from the outside world - all allowed for the rooting of strong religious feelings. They later led to the tradition of the sacred apparitions and pilgrimages to the holy places, as a practice very much alive today. It also fostered artistic expression, which is why fee, more than elsewhere, the holy sites have become places of art.
Such is the case of the Monte Sant'Angele Sanctuary, dedicated to Archangel Michael. protector of this Gargano village and a place of pilgrimage, and the Abbey of Pulsano, dug into the rock as the historic seat of a community of monks and lay worshipers.
Attended by throngs of pilgrims and tourists alike is the "fracchie" pageant of San Marco in Lamis, where (literally) flaming floats parade the village streets on the Frida'-, of Holy Week.
The best-known holy place of the Gargano mountains is undoubtedly the Saint Pio Sanctuary in San Giovanni Rotondo, which
attracts thousands every year from around the world.
Saint Pio lived here for some 50 years and deeply loved this authentic unspoiled land with its simple and genuine people. He also loved to meditate in those places that nature affords, so conducive to thought and spirituality. So much so in fact, that the Gargano forest was, for him, "A Cathedral of the Created world where even the trees pray".
In addition to the better-known sites of religious importance are the smaller churches, abbeys and hermitages, which formerly were important religious places and which still conserve a strong attraction for those wanting to discover a Park with some truly unique characteristics.
 

The towns and villages of the  GARGANO PENISULA have evolved at the meeting points of the natural conditions and the population's living requirements. They are in this sense an integral par! of the Gargano National Park and are thus part and parcel ol the great landscape heritage. Their names are: Apricena, Carpino, Ischitella, Lesina, Manfredonia, Mattinata, Monte Sant'Angelo, San Giovanni Rotondo, Serra Capriola, Peschici, Vico del Cargano, Sannicandm Garganìco, Cagnano Varano, San Marco in Lamis, VIESTE, Rodi Garganico, Rignano Garganico and the Tremiti Islands.