Monte Sant'Angelo is a town and comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

of Apulia

Apulia

Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...

, southern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, in the province of Foggia

Province of Foggia

The Province of Foggia is a province in the Apulia region of Italy.This province is also known as Capitanata, originally Catapanata, because during the Middle Ages it was governed by a catapan, as part of the Catapanate of Italy...

, about 15 km north of Manfredonia

Manfredonia

Manfredonia is a town and comune of Puglia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, from which it is 35 kilometres northeast by rail. Manfredonia is situated on the coast, facing east, to the south of Monte Gargano, and giving its name to the gulf to the east of it...

 by road and 4 km west of Mattinata

Mattinata

Mattinata is a famous seaside resort town and comune in the province of Foggia, Apulia, southern Italy.-Geography:The only town in Apulia facing south the Adriatic sea, Mattinata is part of the Gargano National Park . The main urban area is located above two hills enclosed by mountains in the...

, on the southern slopes of Monte Gargano

Monte Gargano

Gargano is a historical and geographical Italian sub-region situated in Apulia, consisting of a wide isolated mountain massif made of highland and several peaks and forming the backbone of the Gargano Promontory projecting into the Adriatic Sea. The high point is Monte Calvo at . Most of the upland...

.

History

Monte Sant'Angelo as a town appeared only in the eleventh century. Between 1081 and 1103, Monte Sant'Angelo was the capital of a large Norman dominion under the control of Count Henry

Henry, Count of Monte Sant'Angelo

Henry was the Count of Monte Sant'Angelo, with his seat at Foggia, from November 1081.He was the second son of Robert, Count of Lucera, and Gaitelgrima, daughter of Guaimar IV of Salerno. The identity of his father is disputable...

, who was a vassal of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

. The grotto which houses the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel where according to legend, St. Michael appeared in 490, 492 and 493, has been the site of many famous pilgrimages, which started from Mont Saint Michel. Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

 visited the sanctuary in 1987.

In the 17th century the city became part of the Kingdom of Naples

Kingdom of Naples

The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...

, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy in the 19th century.

Main sights

The most important attraction of Monte Sant'Angelo is the Sanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo

Sanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo

The Sanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano, sometimes called simply Monte Gargano, is a Catholic sanctuary on Mount Gargano, Italy, part of the commune of Monte Sant'Angelo, in the province of Foggia, northern Apulia....

, built in the 13th century by Charles I of Anjou.

Other sights include:

• The Castle has bastions of different ages. The most ancient part, called Torre dei Giganti ("Giants' Tower") is a pentagonal tower 18 m-high, with walls 3.7 m thick. The first news on its history dates back to 979; later, it was the residence of Rainulf I of Aversa
  Rainulf Drengot
  Rainulf Drengot was a Norman adventurer and the first count of Aversa .When one of Rainulf's numerous brothers, Osmond, was exiled by Richard I of Normandy for the murder of one of his kin, Rainulf, Osmond, and their brothers Gilbert Buatère, Asclettin , and Raulf went on a pilgrimage to the...
  
   and the Robert Guiscard
  Robert Guiscard
  Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...
  
  , who built the Norman Tower and the Treasure Hall. Emperor Frederick II
  Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
  Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
  
   restored the construction to use it as residence for his mistress Bianca Lancia
  Bianca Lancia
  Bianca Lancia d'Agliano was an Italian noblewoman, who was the mistress and later wife of emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, although the marriage, conducted while she was on her deathbed, was considered non-canonical.- Family :Born ca...
  
  , while under the Angevines
  House of Anjou
  The Angevins, also known as the House of Anjou, were a noble family founded in the early years of the Carolingian Empire. They first emerged as part of the minor feudal nobility, in what would soon be known as the Kingdom of France during the 10th century...
  
  it was used mainly as prison. Later, from 1464 to 1485, the fortress was the residence of the exiled Albanian condottiero Skanderbeg
  Skanderbeg
  George Kastrioti Skanderbeg or Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu , widely known as Skanderbeg , was a 15th-century Albanian lord. He was appointed as the governor of the Sanjak of Dibra by the Ottomans in 1440...
  
  . The castle was largely rebuilt in the late 15th century by Ferdinand I
  Ferdinand I of Naples
  Ferdinand I , also called Don Ferrante, was the King of Naples from 1458 to 1494. He was the natural son of Alfonso V of Aragon by Giraldona Carlino.-Biography:...
  
  . According to a legend, the castle is currently home to the ghost of Bianca Lancia (popularly known as "Biancalancia"), whose sighs can be heard especially in the winter time.
• The Tomb of Rothari
  Rothari
  Rothari , of the house of Arodus, was king of the Lombards from 636 to 652; previously he had been duke of Brescia. He succeeded Arioald, who was an Arian like himself, and was one of the most energetic of Lombard kings...
  
   (Baptistry of San Giovanni in Tumba), a baptistery dating back from the 12th century accessible from the 18th century of St. Peter. The portal has notable reliefs with Biblical stories. The name of "Tomb" is a misspelling of the Latin term Tumba, meaning "dome".
• The church of Santa Maria Maggiore (11th-12th centuries). The façade has blind arcades and a baldachin portal with sculpted frames. The interior has a nave and two aisles, divided by columns with sculpted capitals. The walls have Byzantine-style frescoes.
• The Abbey of Pulsano, at 8 km from the city. It was built in 591 over a Pagan temple and was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1646.

Economy

Monte Sant'Angelo's economy is still largely based on agriculture and breeding. A certain touristical importance is related to the presence of the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel.

Transportation

Monte Sant'Angelo can be reached by road through the Foggia-Monte Sant'Angelo SP.55 provincial road. The SP.89 provincial road passes through the frazione of Macchia.

External links

• ildiariomontanaro.it - la testata giornalistica di Monte Sant'Angelo, a cura dell'associazione culturale Obiettivo Gargano.
• Gallery of images
• The Castle
• image gallery
• montesantangelo.com - City guide of Monte Sant'Angelo