The faithful see in the sanctuary of San Michele in Monte Sant'Angelo, God's hand that lands on the man to create something perfect. After the Roman portal and the altar of S. Francesco, opens before the eyes of visitors a unique show of its kind: a cave, Once an irregular rocky, that over the centuries has welcomed millions of pilgrims, emperors and popes. Continuing exploratory tour, the crypts are the next stage. These environments dating back to Lombard and returned to light following the excavations made between the years 50 e 60. Many inscriptions along the walls of the "crypts" testify to the considerable influx of pilgrims from all over Europe since the Lombard. In November 1989 has been, Moreover, devotional opened museum with the aim to collect and put on display for visitors to the different objects that testify to the worship of San Michele Arcangelo.

Criteria for Admission

prodigious fortresses, fascinating ancient churches and monasteries are the UNESCO site of "The Lombards in Italy. The places of power (568-774 d.C.)”, emblem of a Imperium Langobardorum intended to last for over 200 years, characterized by significant achievement of impressive architectural works. The Lombard architecture is indeed an extraordinary synthesis between Roman and Germanic tradition antiquities, allowing the interweaving of singular and heterogeneous elements, while mesmerized by the Byzantine myth and Christian spirituality. The World Heritage Committee has included in 2011 il sito nella lista del Patrimonio Mondiale in base ai criteri. In particular: (ii) the Lombards monuments have an exemplary witness to the cultural and artistic synthesis that took place in Italy from the VI VIII century between the Roman tradition, la spiritualità Cristiana, Byzantine influences and the values ​​borrowed from the Germanic world, announcing and promoting the development of culture and art Carolingian; (iii) the Lombards places of power expressing artistic and monumental new and extraordinary, testifying to the specificity of Lombard culture in early medieval Europe. Taken together they constitute a cultural series unique and clearly identifiable, whose many languages ​​and aims express the power of the different elites Longobarde; the places of the Lombards and their legacy in the cultural and spiritual structures of European medieval Christianity are very relevant. They have significantly boosted the monastic movement and contributed to the creation of a meta forerunner of the great pilgrimage to Monte Sant'Angelo, with the spread of the cult of St. Michael. The Lombards also played a key role in the transmission to the nascent European world of the classic works of literature, technique, architecture, science, history and law.

Art and Culture History

Monte Sant'Angelo is a historically important city especially for its religious roots linked to the famous shrine's complex dedicated to St. Michael. Tradition dates the arrival of the cult of St. Michael on the Gargano mountain last decade of the fifth century, staring at 490, 492 e 493 the three apparitions of the Archangel, two of them to the bishop of Siponto. The reconstruction of the history of the Sanctuary and the cult of the Archangel on the Gargano is largely based on the Liber de apparitione Sancti Michaelis in monte Gargano (APPEARING), a operetta hagiographic variously dated by V eighth century and rich in miraculous elements. The story is known by three episodes: the bull episode (490), the victory episode (492), the episode of the dedication (493). Moreover, there is also a fourth appearance, that of 1656, when the Archangel Gargano freed the city from the plague. personally consecrated by the Archangel, the basilica is constituted by a natural cave. In the last decade of the fifth century, l ' "sent by God" Michael appeared in a vision to the Bishop of Siponto, San Lorenzo Maiorano, announcing the successful sanctification of the cave, chosen as a place of redemption. Since, thousands of pilgrims have traveled to the mountain of Gargano, venerating the message of faith inherited by the Archangel. In the Middle Ages the Holy Cave, together with the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem, the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome and at the shrine of St. James of Compostela in Spain, He became one of the four great shrines of Christianity. The influx of so many people, from different social backgrounds, He helped create a real sanctuary model "St. Michael", which one inspired the building of successive places of worship in Italy and elsewhere in Europe. Even now the sanctuary of San Michele in Monte Sant'Angelo is one of the spiritual capitals, exchange point of mystical experiences of peoples who for over fifteen centuries continue to cross the threshold of the mysterious cave. Of particular historical value, as well as religious, la porta di bronzo che apre all’interno della grotta, realized in 1076 near the city of Constantinople; altar top, fascinating is the solemn bishop's throne, whose uncertain date oscillates between the mid-eleventh century and the middle, circa, XII; the top of the Basilica atrium is marked by an impressive octagonal bell tower built, the style of Castel del Monte, by order of Charles I of Anjou; entry, instead, is a monumental structure with two arches ended during the restructuring of the 1865. The stone material is arranged in the sphere of so-called "Crypt", medieval, where you can admire, Moreover, the elegant marble pulpit of the Acceptus 1041. Recently exhibition is devotional museum, expression of the inestimable deference to the Archangel Saint Michael, containing countless donations of illustrious pilgrims and ordinary people to the shrine as a form of gratitude and faith.