Sanctuaire de Monte Sant'Angelo

Monte Sant'Angelo

The oldest shrine in Western Europe dedicated to the archangel, founded around 490 after a first apparition of Saint Michael to Bishop Laurence Maiorano in a natural cave on Monte Gargano. Local legend holds that the archangel's footprint remains imprinted in the rock. A major stop on the medieval Via Francigena toward the Holy Land, the site forms with Mont-Saint-Michel and the Sacra di San Michele a trio of shrines that several authors present as spaced exactly 1,000 km apart from one another — a regularity presented as striking by proponents of the sacred line, but whose geometric precision has never been confirmed by an independent, rigorous measurement.

Getting there : Free admission

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound