Santuario di San Gabriele
Isola del Gran Sasso (TE)

(picture by courtesy of
©Raffaello Mazzeschi)

The most popular religious destinations in Abruzzo, visited by over 1 and a half million people every year, the Sanctuary is in honour of a a franciscan friar who died at only 24 years of age of tuberculosis on 27 February 1862. He had spent his last years in a convent on the Gran Sasso founded by St. Francis from Assisi in 1215 and dedicated to the Virgin. The local population refused to move the body of Gabriele to Spoleto, his hometown, and miracles started to be registered. In 1920 Gabriele was canonized, and the number of pilgrims and miraculous events started to grow. In 1970 a new sanctuary was built, which can accomodate 10,000 people. In recent year a peculiar custom has been introduced: students in their last high school grade come here to seek the Saint's protection 100 days before the exam.