Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church

San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

Opening hours: 07:00-17:30
Wheelchair access: Accessible

From OpenStreetMap — confirm before travelling

Find out more

In San Giovanni Rotondo, in the Province of Foggia, Italy, the Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church stands as a modern shrine devoted to Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, the Italian Capuchin friar, priest, and mystic. Designed by Genoese architect Renzo Piano and constructed from 1998 to 2004, the sanctuary covers 6,000 square meters and accommodates 6,500 seated worshippers, with standing room for 30,000 outside. Located behind the older Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie, where Padre Pio lived, the church houses his remains in an enclosed glass tomb, moved there in 2010. The shrine sits before Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, a hospital and research center founded by Padre Pio himself. The sanctuary has received papal visits, including from Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 and Pope Francis in 2018.