Puglia is not only Romanesque or Baroque. There are many contemporary artists and architects who have left important testimonies of their work. This is the case, for example, of the Church of S. Pio, in San Giovanni Rotondo, designed by the architect Renzo Piano.
The imposing church was inaugurated in 2004, after about ten years of work, a grandiose work capable of hosting up to 6,500 faithful, with a large open space, communicating with the liturgical hall, which allows another 30 thousand people to attend the ceremonies. Visiting the sanctuary, you will understand that the guiding idea of the project is to welcome and guide the faithful inside the liturgical hall through a path that, without interruption, leads from an open space to an internal one.
The processional path starts from the Salita del Colonnato, below the churchyard area, covered by a wooden vault with copper cladding and Apricena stone flooring.
On the colonnade, next to the bells, you will see "eagles", which represent an ancient belief described in the Psalms, according to which the eagle before dying flies towards the sun to regenerate itself. Also next to the bells is the Great Cross, "focus" for the pilgrim who arrives in the churchyard.
The work consists of a 40-meter high rod made up of 65 stone blocks with horizontal arms of 3.50 meters. The pilgrim's path is punctuated by 12 fountains and communicating olive trees that evoke the Jordan River.
In the churchyard stands the large glass and steel facade depicting the apocalypse of St. John, while on the opposite side is the entrance to the liturgical hall with the Baptistery on its left. The interior space of the liturgical hall of the Upper Church is characterized by three naves with a semicircular layout. The structure of the church is made of Apricena stone: the large internal arches arranged radially with respect to the altar, which serve to support a beautiful copper and wood roof, leave you breathless. The arches are made using innovative construction processes, the result of a long technological experimentation.
For the first time since the time of the great Gothic cathedrals, in fact, stone is used in load-bearing arches of this size. The plan of the temple recalls the shape of a shell whose fulcrum corresponds to the central altar from which the arches branch off at a fixed distance that seem to gradually envelop the faithful to welcome them in a single, large and fraternal embrace.
The Church is divided into an upper and a lower part.
The Upper Church includes the liturgical hall, the Chapel of the Eucharist containing the famous Tabernacle sculpted by Floriano Bodini and the Sacristy. The Lower Church contains the Crypt, three conference rooms, a room for the reception of pilgrims and the Penitentiary made up of 31 confessionals and completely soundproofed. The stone altar and the bronze cross above are by the artist Arnaldo Pomodoro, the monumental ambo is the work of Giuliano Vangi
