Highly recommend! So beautiful! The church and former home of Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, a very beloved Catholic priest and Saint. So much to see, reflect, and pray about...this "Convento Santa Maria delle Grazie" is made up of 3-4 buildings: 1) Friary where Saint Padre Pio lived; 2) Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace (older church where he celebrated Mass; attached to friary); 3) Basilica of Our Lady of Grace (newer church; attached to older church building); and 4) Church of St Padre Pio (newest/largest church in much larger building within walking distance from Our Lady of Grace Sanctuary). We traveled there from Rome by train and were on the church grounds for about 5 hours...wish we would've stayed longer! This is the church were Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina celebrated Mass during most of his life. He died in his room which is in the friary/building connected to the church. I highly encourage everyone visit the Pilgrim Office to request a guided tour of all the grounds. For those of you who don't know who Padre Pio is, he was a friar, priest, mystic, and stigmatist who received the 5 wounds of Jesus Christ on his body for the last 50 years of his life, and was canonized as a Catholic Saint by Pope John Paul II in 2002. Many people went to visit him for Confession, because he had the gift of reading souls (he could see a person's sins). He also had the ability to bilocate, to communicate with angels and had all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. From his 50 years of suffering with the 5 wounds of Christ (stigmata) and many physical assaults from the devil, he was able to share in Jesus' Christ's redemptive sufferings which helped save countless souls from damnation (based on what is written in Colossians 1:24 "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church"). Both his room (also known as his cell) in the friary and his confessional are preserved for public viewing. His partially incorrupt body is in the church next door (Church of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina) inside a clear casket in the lower church area.

The convent was built in the 16th century and is the place where Padre Pio lived from 1916 until his death. It is attached to the old church built 100 years later. It is part of the sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie complex. You can enter the convent and see Padre Pios’ cell where he resided while alive and the crypt where he resided after he died.. His remains have since been transferred to the Sancuary of San Pio de Pietrelcina.