{"id":5532,"date":"2025-12-04T10:11:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T14:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/?p=5532"},"modified":"2025-12-04T10:12:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T14:12:06","slug":"st-luke-pilgrimage-to-italy-day-6-november-15th-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/?p=5532","title":{"rendered":"St. Luke Pilgrimage to Italy, Day 6 \u2014 November 15th, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

On this day, we left Naples and headed across Italy to San Giovanni Rotondo, 140 miles away. We passed many \u00a0wind farms that are successful in creating renewable energy, and of course, olive groves that are known around the world for their oil. At today’s lunch stop, I thoroughly enjoyed arancini, rice balls that have been stuffed with meat or cheese and then deep fried, while Nick was happy with his wrap containing prosciutto, cheese, and arugula. We reached \u00a0San Giovanni Rotondo, the town in which San Padre Pio lived. Many groups need hotel \u00a0lodging in the town, and we were lucky to find one that could accommodate us. We stayed at a small but comfortable pilgrimage hotel, Albergo Villa Bianca.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In this town, a pious priest named Francesco Forgione became Padre Pio after he received the stigmata of Christ. The church in which Padre Pio worshipped was called Santa Maria delle Grazie, (Our Lady of Grace) or “The Old Church”, which had been built in the 16th century and had many additions since then.\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Father \u00a0Kumar \u00a0was \u00a0one \u00a0of \u00a0the \u00a0celebrants \u00a0at \u00a0a \u00a0mass \u00a0that day.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Eventually more room was needed for worshipers, so the New Church was constructed. It opened in 1956. \u00a0The \u00a0building \u00a0has \u00a0multiple \u00a0levels \u00a0and \u00a0hallways, \u00a0filled with contemporary mosaics.\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Padre Pio was responsible for the construction of a hospital called Casa Sollievo della Soffereza, Home for the Relief of Suffering, both physical and psychological. \u00a0He was canonized into sainthood by Pope John Paul II \u00a0in 2002.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For dinner that night we enjoyed tortellini in brodo, a chicken leg and thigh, fries, and fresh fruit.<\/p>\n

8,884 steps<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On this day, we left Naples and headed across Italy to San Giovanni Rotondo, 140 miles away. We passed many \u00a0wind farms that are successful in creating renewable energy, and of course, olive groves that are known around the world for their oil. At today’s lunch stop, I thoroughly enjoyed arancini, rice balls that have … Continue reading St. Luke Pilgrimage to Italy, Day 6 \u2014 November 15th, 2025<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pilgrimage-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5532"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5568,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5532\/revisions\/5568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}