...is the highest center of the Gargano (843 m.), Montesant'angelo (fg) is situated in an admirable panoramic position on a southern spur of the promontory with an open view to the west over the Tavoliere and to the south over the Gulf of Manfredonia.
The spur on which it di-stands is limestone in nature and therefore has caves and grottos among which the best known is the one in which the altar of St. Michael the Archangel is located.
The Gargano promontory experienced considerable fortune due to the presence, in its territory, of the sanctuary of St. Michael Archangel. It is, without a doubt, the most famous place of micaelic cult in the Latin West, a continuous destination of illustrious pilgrimages and people of all social conditions, even from faraway destinations.
For Monte Sant'Angelo, the Norman-Swabian period, which constituted one of the highest moments of its economic, artistic and religious development, also coincided with the apogee of the celebrity achieved by the shrine.
The chronicles of the time, in fact, report it among the four most frequented places of pilgrimage in Christendom according to the itinerary of spiritual redemption, known as Homo, Angelus, Deus, which included visits to the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul in Rome and St. James of Compostella in Spain (Homo), to the Angel of the Sacred Cave of Monte Sant'Angelo (Angelus), and finally to the places of the Holy Land (Deus).
The "Platea" of the shrine, dating back to 1600, mentions three annual feasts in honor of St. Michael:
May 8, anniversary of the first apparition following the so-called "prodigy of the bull."
September 29, anniversary of the victory of the Sipontines over the Neapolitans and also of the third apparition in which St. Michael invited everyone to enter the cave he had already consecrated. Because of the latter affair, in the ancient calendars prior to the Second Vatican Council the day was called "Feast of the Dedication of St. Michael the Archangel" on Oct. 16, the commemoration of the birth of the other famous Micaelic shrine in the West, the one on Mount Tombs in Normandy.
The first two festivals once consisted especially of lavish fairs of animals, agricultural and food and wine products and were a triumph of the inhabitants' craftsmanship. That of May 8 is basically the true patronal feast since it is the actual beginning of the micaelico phenomenon on the Gargano and the date of the birth of the town itself but since, given the spring season, it was also the more crowded of the two festivals, towards the end of the 19th century the September date began to be preferred.
THE FEAST
On the evening of the eve, Sept. 28, the mayor and civil and military authorities go in solemn form to the basilica and symbolically offer wax (once an irreplaceable element to illuminate the temple) and the products of the earth, professing themselves by this highly symbolic gesture to be subjects of the Celestial Prince to whom they owe continuous and effective protection and the very birth of the town.
The highlight of the events is the procession of the saint on September 29. Because of the valuable fragility of the marble masterpiece created by Sansovino, a relic of the saint, namely the sacred golden sword taken from the statue in the grotto, has been carried in procession through the center's alleys since the early 20th century; it was not until 1982 that the Benedictine monks had a wooden copy of Sansovino's statue carved and carried it in procession, placing it alongside the sword.
And as the golden sword finally returns to the archangel's hands, fireworks illuminate and draw the mountainside.
Worth visiting: Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel, Octagonal Bell Tower, Monumental Complex of St. Peter's, St. John's Baptistery (called "Rotari's Tomb") and St. Mary Major, Norman, Swabian, Aragonese, Angevin Castle, Pulsano Abbey.
Churches: Holy Trinity and former Poor Clare convent; St. Francis of Assisi and adjoining Franciscan convent, St. Benedict and former Celestine convent, St. Anthony Abbot, St. Mary of Mount Carmel and former Carmelite convent,St. Joseph, St. Nicholas and former Capuchin convent, St. Savior, Crowned, Madonna of the Angels, St. Apolinare.
Museums: Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions of the Gargano, Lapidary Museum of the Basilica of St. Michael Archangel,
Devotional Museum of the Basilica of St. Michael Archangel, Foresta Umbra Naturalistic Museum.
