Sant'Elia a Pianisi, Province of Campobasso, Molise
The little town rises about 33 kms east of Campobasso in a landscape of woods, farmlands and hills covered with olive trees. It is known for a Franciscan convent dedicated to Padre Pio, who visited it at the beginning of the 20th century.
Info
- Altitude: 671 m a.s.l
- Territory: hilly
- Population: about 1700 inhabitants in 2018
- Zip/postal code: 86048
- Dialing Area Code: +39 0874
- Patron Saint: St. Elia Profeta on 20 July.
- Frazioni & Localities: Occhito
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Provinces of Molise
Italian Regions
Abruzzo | Basilicata | Calabria | Campania | Emilia‑Romagna | Friuli‑Venezia Giulia | Latium | Liguria | Lombardy | Marche | Molise | Piedmont | Puglia | Sardinia | Sicily | Tuscany | Trentino‑Alto Adige | Umbria | Veneto
History
The first historical records go back to the 14th century, when it was a fiefdom of Fiorentia de Trinci; later on it passed to the Di Capua and finally to the Di Palma family.
A very lively trade center in the past, when there were a pasta and biscuit factory, a flour mill, a trousers manufacture, most of them unfortunately now closed. The place is today a favorite religious destinations since in the Capucine Convent there is the cell where San Pio da Pietrelcina, the beloved Padre Pio, spent four years of his life.
What to see
- The "Cerreto" Wood.
- The church of Sant'Elia, 13th century, containing two beautiful marble statues representing Joseph and Mary, a 16th-century painting "Allegoria dei Sette Sacramenti" moved here from Ripabottoni in 1720, as well as a fine canvas of local painter Fernando Di Stefano representing patron Sant'Elia the Prophet on his fire wagon.