Spirituality, art, quality food and wine, sea and mountains. These are the ingredients that have allowed Monte Sant’Angelo to set out, with an entire territory, and aim to become the “Italian Capital of Culture 2025”. Bringing with it an entire territory and some luxury “allies”
“A mountain on the way”. The title of the dossier is already an excellent business card. And this is what the Municipality of Monte Sant’Angelo has chosen for its candidacy for the Italian Capital of Culture 2025. In reality, there is an entire territory on the way, as demonstrated by the Pact between the mayors che are committed to creating (really) a system to aim for an enviable opportunity for tourism promotion.
The delivery of the dossier on 13 September represented the last stage of a journey that saw several salient moments, such as the co-planning day at the end of August, when the whole Gargano – with almost 200 companies, associations, citizens and mayors – found himself to push ‘Monte’.
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“We live in a territory, the Gargano, with a millenary history and an impressive tradition behind it, of respect for nature and unique human relationships – reads the Manifesto of Mayors -. Candidating a city, a territory, a set of public institutions and private entities and actors, is always a great challenge. It means getting involved, starting a journey together by starting a process of sharing and participation of our communities ”.
The logo
The # MonteSantAngelo2025 logo is the work of Luigi Ciuffredadesigner and architect, candidate for the Compasso d’Oro 2022, in collaboration with Claudio Grenzi, designer and editor, both members of the technical-scientific committee. “The letter M contains three key elements of Monte Sant’Angelo: the mountain, the angel and the cave” – says Ciuffreda, illustrating the logo -. The two triangles evoke both the mountain and a road in perspective. Finally, blue, which represents immaterial elements, blends with absolute red, the color of the earth, to give light to purple, the most evocative color, linked to the world of art and culture ”.
Archangel Michael
And it is precisely this intertwining that guarantees the quality of Monte Sant’Angelo’s candidacy, between art and spirituality and the Unesco heritage that represent it. The symbolic place of sacredness is the Sanctuary of San Michele Arcangelo. Consisting of a natural cave and a complex of superimposed constructions in successive eras and periods, the Sanctuary was a pilgrimage destination for kings, popes, saints, emperors and simple pilgrims who knelt in this place to wash “their sins”.
The prestigious American magazine National Geographic placed it among the ten most beautiful Sacred Caves in the world. It is from here that a long path of faith opens up that leads a few kilometers from the city to the ancient Abbey of Santa Maria di Pulsano (XII century), a mystical place surrounded by nature where the Byzantine rite marries the Catholic one. A spirituality that also re-emerges throughout the city, with numerous churches of different styles that guide you on a path of the spirit where faith meets beauty.
The monuments
Not just religious tourism, however. Because the monuments that characterize Monte Sant’Angelo are numerous starting, obviously, from the castle which over the centuries has been enlarged and artistically contaminated by Normans, Swabians, Angevins and Aragonese.
A path through the monumental beauties that leads to the Complex of San Pietro, consisting of the remains of the ancient church, the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Tumba (called Tomba di Rotari) among the most mysterious places and the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore and its cycle of frescoes. And continuing towards the historic center, the Junno district, where tourists are welcomed by the MeTA (Tancredi Ethnographic Museum), the archaeological excavations of the Church of Santo Antonio and the whiteness of the white terraced houses.
The Umbra Forest
And the other treasure: nature. Monte Sant’Angelo offers an emotional journey that unites land and sea. Trekking, biking or hiking in the Umbra Forest, along its 32 km of equipped trails, guide to the discovery of the UNESCO World Heritage Beech Woods. At the foot of the city there is an ancient mule track, Scannamugliera “Jazzo Ognissanti”, a beautiful historical naturalistic path. In spring, among the valleys of the territory of Monte Sant’Angelo, more than 80 varieties of wild orchids offer a colorful show to be discovered along the paths of the Forest, of the Bosco Quarto, near Pulsano where, moreover, it is possible to go trekking in the Hermitages. Monte Sant’Angelo is also sea, leaving the mountain behind, you reach the plain of Macchia, an expanse of olive groves that meets a crystalline sea and a jagged coast.
Cinema and flavors
But to enrich the dossier – and the beauty of the territory – there are also many other proposals, as shown by the participation tohe 79th Venice Film Festival: Monte Sant’Angelo had as testimonial Abel Ferrara, who presented his Father Pio shot right upstream. Without forgetting the project “Tastes from Monte Sant’Angelo”, A project to promote products of gastronomic excellence such as bread, caciocavallo, oil and full hosts.
The alliances
Monte Sant’Angelo has all the cards and many allies, as well as a “plan B” in case of defeat. Basically, there is a deal with other candidate cities – Assisi-Spoleto-Otranto – to “work together in 2025 whoever wins”. And, always in the name of “spiritual” continuity, there is no lack of letters of support from all over the territory, from the Terre della Sacra di San Michele in Piedmont and from Mont Saint-Michel. The city of the two Unesco sites is on its way. Whether the path will lead to the Capital of Culture 2025 will be discovered in the coming months.
Monte Sant’Angelo Italian Capital of Culture 2025, “A mountain on the way”