San Giovanni Rotondo is famous throughout the world because it is the place where the remains of San Pio da Pietrelcina, a Capuchin friar, who lived for about 50 years in Gargano town, are preserved... #tuttitaly
Set in the center of a beautiful natural setting, San Giovanni Rotondo is where the remains of San Pio di Pietrelcina, a Capuchin friar, who lived for about fifty years in the town of Garganica, are preserved.
It was founded around the year 1000 on the ruins of a pre-existing village of the fourth century BC. Visible signs of the ancient town remain, such as some tombs and a circular baptistery intended for the cult of Janus but later consecrated by the pilgrims who passed along via sacra Longobardorum in San Giovanni Battista.
In 1916, the then very young Padre Pio arrived in the city. He dedicated his life to the service of the Church. Among his charitable works, the "House for Relief of Suffering" hospital was defined as a "Temple of Prayer and Science" by Padre Pio himself. Inaugurated on May 6, 1956, the hospital is now recognized as a "Scientific Hospitalization and Care Institute" and has over 1000 beds; and is located near the two churches dedicated to Santa Maria delle Grazie, where he lived and worked and the new church which was designed by Renzo Piano and completed in 2004.
The old part of the city develops into a network of alleys and suggestive corners that reproduce images of an ancient past. And the town's name derives from the rear shape of the old church of San Giano, consisting of a round baptistery.
Not far from the inhabited center is the Grava di Campolato, one of the numerous karst cavities on the Gargano, the deepest of those in Puglia.
Close to the town stands Monte Calvo, with its 1065 m of height. From its summit, it is possible to witness an indescribable panorama, a view that embraces the Tremiti Islands to the north and the Gulf of Manfredonia to the south.
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