Sacred places in Abruzzo

The route of Saint Thomas, whose relics have been treasured in Ortona Cathedral since 1258, is a religious and cultural itinerary long more than 450 kilometres, that perfectly mix together faith, culture, art, nature, traditions and local food&wine. Spending two days in Abruzzo for your holiday, you will retrace a part of this suggestive itinerary: Manoppello – Lanciano – Ortona.

The first lag of the route is Manoppello, where the Holy Face of Jesus is treasured, a veil representing the original Christ’s image; moreover, Manoppello is very rich in religious history and architecture: the most important church is Santa Maria d’Arabona. Lanciano is the city of the first Christian eucharistic miracle, dated 8th Century, when a Basilian hieromonk, with doubt in his soul, saw the bread changing into living flesh and the wine changing into live blood. These relics are treasured in the church of San Francesco. The last lag of this route is Ortona, native city of Saint Thomas whose relics have been treasured in the local cathedral since 1258. Inside the abbey, you can also admire a huge painting made by Basilio Cascella representing Saint Thomas’ doubt and the stone of its original grave, stolen from Chios Island in Greece.