San Giovanni Rotondo - mixing spirituality, tourism, and the macabre

An article in the The New York Times, "Italian Saint Stirs up a Mix of Faith and Commerce,"cites that thousands of pilgrims have flocked to see the newly exhumed body of Padre Pio in the town of San Giovanni Rotondo in Puglia. Followers attribute many miracles to Padre Pio, who is the first priest thought to have received the stigmata since Saint Francis of Assisi. The town where he lived and preached has become a tourist destination, drawing millions of visitors a year. For some more information about the city and its mix of tourism and spituality, see a 1998 New York Times Article, where one of the monks attending Padre Pio's memory is found saying "'We didn't want them to turn this into a junky country fair.''