Monte Sant'Angelo

Introducing Monte Sant'Angelo

One of Europe’s most important pilgrimage sites, this isolated mountain-top has an extraordinary atmosphere, apparent even as you wind up the looping mountain road. Pilgrims have been coming here for centuries; so have the hustlers, pushing everything from religious kitsch to parking spaces.

The object of devotion is the Santuario di San Michele. Here, in AD 490, St Michael the Archangel is said to have appeared in a grotto to the Bishop of Siponto. He left behind his scarlet cloak and instructions not to consecrate the site as he had already done so.

During the Middle Ages, the sanctuary marked the end of the Route of the Angel, which began in Normandy and passed through Rome. In 999 the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III made a pilgrimage to the sanctuary to pray that prophecies about the end of the world in the year 1000 would not be fulfilled – his prayers were answered, the world staggered on and the sanctuary’s fame grew.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009