Experience the best of San Giovanni Rotondo

San Giovanni Rotondo stands on the southern slopes of the Gargano, the limestone promontory that forms the spur of Italy's boot, in the province of Foggia. Pilgrims have made it famous because the Capuchin friar Padre Pio lived and died at the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie here. He was canonised in 2002, and a large modern church designed by the architect Renzo Piano stands beside the old convent.

Around the town, the Gargano National Park covers the beech woods of the Foresta Umbra, white sea cliffs and coastal towns such as Vieste and Peschici. Monte Sant'Angelo, a mountain town with a sanctuary of St Michael built in a cave, is a World Heritage site on the same peninsula, and the wide plain of the Tavoliere stretches away to the south-west.

Puglian cooking here means orecchiette with turnip tops, caciocavallo and ricotta cheeses, roast lamb, and olive oil from the groves of the Gargano, whose oranges and lemons are also well known. Pilgrims arrive all year, in greatest numbers around the feast of Padre Pio on 23 September.