Highlights:

Discover the castle built before the year 1000
Visit the sanctuary and the cave of Saint Michael the Archangel
Explore the crypts and the sanctuary museum

Tour details:

The guided tour of Monte Sant’Angelo will concentrate mainly in the historic center, the castle and the sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel, which in 2011 became a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the Longobardian routes in Puglia.
The visit starts from the castle, originally a Byzantine castle built before the year 1000, was later flanked by a tower, the so-called Tower of the Giants, characterized by a height of 18 meters and a wall thickness of 3 meters and expanded by the Normans, Swabians and Aragonese. You can visit the various rooms including the treasure room and the impressive walkways on the walls with a panoramic view of the entire city and the Gargano.
After the castle you will come to the outside of the sanctuary of Saint Michael where you will admire the imposing octagonal tower built by Charles I of Anjou on the model of Castel del Monte.
The visit will continue inside the cave where the Saint Michael the Archangel is venerated from the fifth century. The lower level, therefore, includes the cave, which is accessed directly from the Angevin staircase, the devotional museum and the crypts.
Going down the Angevin stairway until you get to the “terrestrial home” cave of the Saint Michael, you will perceive a sense of spirituality and mysticism difficult to explain.
On the main altar you can admire the statue of Saint Michael the Archangel, in Carrara marble, which holds with your right hand a sword which symbolizes the power over evil that comes from God.
Inside the cave, inside the statue of the Saint, there is the episcopal chair and the statue of San Sebastiano. The crypts are located in the Lombard age and served as an entrance to the cave, are rich in inscriptions along the walls that bear witness to the considerable influx of pilgrims from all over Europe since the Lombard era.
Also in 1216 Saint Francis of Assisi spent a visit to Saint Michael the Archangel, but not feeling worthy to enter the cave, he stopped in prayer and recollection at the entrance, repeatedly kissing the earth and engraving on a stone the sign of the cross in shape of “T” (Tau), a sign that is still visible and revered as a relic of the passage of the Saint of Assisi in the Celestial and angelic Basilica.
The tour ends with a visit to the museum and to the lapidarium inside the basilica.