Pietrelicina is a picturesque town in the province of Benevento in the Campania region of Southern Italy. It is most famous for being the birthplace of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina.

Padre Pio was born Francesco Forgione on the 25th May 1887. He was given the name Pio upon entering the Capuchins. During his youth Francesco experienced heavenly visions and ecstasies, and it was at nearby Piana Romana, an area of farmland where the young Francesco tended livestock, that he first received the stigmata, which he bore for much of his adult life and through which he became very well known.

Many miracles have been attributed to Saint Pio during his own lifetime and since his death on 23rd September 1968. He was canonised by Pope John Paul II on the 16th June 2002 and his Feast day is celebrated on 23rd September.

What will I see when I visit:

• Birthplace of Padre Pio.
• Church of Santa Ana where Padre Pio was baptized and celebrated his first mass.
• The Turret room where Padre Pio lived between 1909 and 1912 during difficult years of illness that kept him away from the monastery.
• Piana Romana, located near Pietrelcina is the humble farmhouse where the family of Francesco spent the months of farm work and where the young boy tendered his small flock.