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Padre Pio's places in Pietrelcina

Sanctuary · Pietrelcina · Campania

In brief

Festivals and dates

The village where Francesco Forgione grew up

Pietrelcina, in the province of Benevento, has an almost thousand-year history: it appears in records from 1133 and passed through several feudal families, down to the Caracciolo, D'Aquino and Carafa. Its old heart is the Castello quarter, with stone houses set against the rock, alleys and steep descents.

Here, on 25 May 1887, Francesco was born, the fourth child of Grazio Forgione and Maria Giuseppa De Nunzio, a farming family; he was baptised the following day. He spent his childhood between the church, the house and the family fields at Piana Romana. In 1903 he entered the Capuchin novitiate at nearby Morcone, and during his years of training he returned to his home village several times for health reasons.

Ordained a priest in Benevento Cathedral on 10 August 1910, four days later he celebrated his first solemn Mass in the parish church of Pietrelcina, where he served as a priest until 1916. The town's Capuchin friary, dedicated to the Holy Family at his suggestion, was built later in the Gregarie district, then open countryside.

Sources: Pietrelcina - Italia.it · Pietrelcina, il paese natale di Padre Pio - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · Biografia Padre Pio - padrepio.it · Chiesa Parrocchiale di Santa Maria degli Angeli e Santuario Diocesano di San Pio - Comune di Pietrelcina · La profezia e il Convento dei Cappuccini - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina

The roots of a saint

For the friars of Pietrelcina the village is not just the backdrop to Saint Pio's life but the place where the man and the believer were formed. Padre Pio lived here for 29 years in all, and pilgrims come to retrace his childhood, his vocation and his first years as a priest.

The first mystical phenomena of his life took place in Pietrelcina. On 7 September 1910, while he was praying under an elm tree at Piana Romana, the first stigmata appeared: at his request they became invisible, but the pain remained. At first the friar confided only in the parish priest and later in his spiritual directors.

As a young priest he already gathered the faithful of the Castello quarter at Porta Madonnella for the Rosary and the novenas to the saints of the shrine there, forming what the Capuchins describe as his first prayer group. Today devotion centres on the church of the Holy Family, which keeps the only relic of the saint's body, and on the statue of Saint Pio blessed by John Paul II on the day of the beatification, 2 May 1999.

Sources: 25-26 Maggio 2026: Pietrelcina celebra la nascita e il Battesimo di San Pio - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · Pietrelcina la terra di Padre Pio - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · 7 settembre: Le prime stimmate di Padre Pio - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · La Porta Madonnella - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · La Reliquia di Padre Pio - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina

Birth house, churches and Piana Romana

In the medieval village, on Vico Storto Valle, you can visit the birth house: the room where Francesco was born was his parents' bedroom, above a space used as a stable and storeroom; the kitchen, with its hearth and period utensils, was the centre of family life. Nearby, the church of Sant'Anna, the oldest in the village, keeps the simple stone font where he was baptised. The Castello quarter is entered through Porta Madonnella, with a shrine of 30 majolica tiles showing Our Lady Crowned (the Incoronata), Saint Michael and Saint Anthony.

The parish church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, rebuilt after the 1688 earthquake, holds the 18th-century wooden statue of the Madonna della Libera, the town's patron. On Viale Cappuccini stands the church of the Holy Family, built at Padre Pio's wish between 1926 and 1951, with the saint's relic; beside it is the Padre Pio Museum, with his cradle, school exercise books, habit and the alb of the scourging, and in front is the monument by the sculptor Andreose.

From the village the Path of the Rosary, the country lane Padre Pio walked while praying, leads to Piana Romana. Here, in the small church of Saint Francis built in 1958 where he liked to withdraw in prayer, the elm under which he received the stigmata in 1910 is preserved.

Sources: Casa Natale di San Pio - Comune di Pietrelcina · Chiesa di Sant'Anna - Comune di Pietrelcina · Porta Madonnella - Comune di Pietrelcina · La Porta Madonnella - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · Chiesa Parrocchiale di Santa Maria degli Angeli e Santuario Diocesano di San Pio - Comune di Pietrelcina · Chiesa della Sacra Famiglia - Comune di Pietrelcina · La Reliquia di Padre Pio - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · Il Museo di Padre Pio da Pietrelcina - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · Cammino del Rosario - Comune di Pietrelcina · Chiesetta di San Francesco - Comune di Pietrelcina

May and September in Saint Pio's village

On 25 and 26 May Pietrelcina remembers the saint's birth and baptism. In the 2026 programme the preparation included a dawn novena in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli and a triduum at the Holy Family church. On the 25th the residents of the Piana Romana district light the votive lamp and the day ends with a procession through the streets, with the band and fireworks; on the 26th Mass is celebrated beside the baptismal font in the church of Sant'Anna.

On 22 and 23 September the Transitus and the liturgical feast of Saint Pio are celebrated. The novena begins on 14 September at Santa Maria degli Angeli, with a Rosary dedicated to the sick and the suffering. On the evening of the 22nd, in the Holy Family church, the prayer vigil culminates in the re-enactment of the Transitus; on the 23rd the solemn procession sets off from the friary forecourt and, after the celebration, a torchlight procession brings the saint's statue back to the Holy Family church.

During the year the Capuchins also mark the anniversary of the first stigmata and, in August, that of his first Mass, celebrated on 14 August 1910, which also remembers Brother Modestino, who died on that same day. Every year the village also hosts a well-attended living nativity scene.

Sources: 25-26 Maggio 2026: Pietrelcina celebra la nascita e il Battesimo di San Pio - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · 22-23 Settembre Ricordiamo il transito di San Pio da Pietrelcina - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · 7 settembre: Le prime stimmate di Padre Pio - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · Prima Messa di Padre Pio - Anniversario della morte di Fr. Modestino - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · Chiesa Parrocchiale di Santa Maria degli Angeli e Santuario Diocesano di San Pio - Comune di Pietrelcina · Pietrelcina - Italia.it

Planning the visit

Padre Pio's places are grouped between the old village, Viale Cappuccini and the Piana Romana district, linked to the village by the Path of the Rosary. The Capuchin friary on Via Cappuccini has a Reception Office (Ufficio Accoglienza), and a second Reception Office is located at Piana Romana; both refer to the friary's official website, cappuccinipietrelcina.it. For religious services the municipality refers visitors to the parish of Santa Maria degli Angeli and to the friary.

By train, travel to Benevento Centrale station and continue on ETAC scheduled buses, which leave from the station exit on public holidays and from the Bus Terminal on weekdays, or by taxi. The nearest airport is Naples Capodichino. By car, from Benevento follow the SS212 state road for about 10 kilometres. Several entrances, such as those of the parish church and the Holy Family church, have step-free access for people with reduced mobility.

Sources: Come Raggiungere il Convento di Pietrelcina - Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina · Convento Frati Minori Cappuccini di Pietrelcina - sito ufficiale · Chiesa Parrocchiale di Santa Maria degli Angeli e Santuario Diocesano di San Pio - Comune di Pietrelcina · Chiesa della Sacra Famiglia - Comune di Pietrelcina · Cammino del Rosario - Comune di Pietrelcina

Sources