Highlights:

Discover one of the most important places of faith in Italy
Visit the luigis where Padre Pio from Pietralcina lived for 50 years
Explore the new Sanctuary designed by architect Renzo Piano

Tour details:

The guided tour of San Giovanni Rotondo will take you to know and visit the places where the remains of San Pio from Pietralcina reside, which lived here for about 50 years.
The tour itinerary will unite the most significant places: the “ancient” church, the “new” church, both dedicated to Santa Maria delle Grazie, the Monastery and the new sanctuary.
The ancient church of the mid-1500s has a very simple façade and inside it is composed of a single baroque style nave. At a second entrance to the convent is the cell of Padre Pio and the crypt where the body of Padre Pio was housed before being transferred to the nearby sanctuary.
The visit continues with the “new” church, built for the explicit desire of Padre Pio, with the intention of being able to accommodate in an appropriate manner the considerable flow of thousands of pilgrims that flowed ever more numerous to San Giovanni Rotondo. Here the friar celebrated mass and confessed the faithful.
After having seen the various utensils that belonged to the friar of Pietralcina inside the convent, we will reach his cell where the friar lived.
The tour ends at the Sanctuary, designed by architect Renzo Piano, one of the largest churches in Italy, capable of holding up to 7,000 people. You will first visit the upper church characterized by stone arches and decorations made by some of the best artists of national renown such as Arnaldo Pomodoro.
Through a helical walkway, we will visit the lower church and the crypt where the remains of the saint rest.