In a grotto on the mountain at 800 m in AD 490 the Archangel Michael appeared to shepherds. Luckily he chose a very large grotto, for over succeeding centuries it was to accommodate a basilica and hundreds of pil-grims at a time from the length and breadth of Christendom. Crusaders, emperors and kings worshipped here and left precious gifts. You may have to queue to get in but it is worth waiting for. The sanctuary (built 5th and 6th centuries) contains works of art including a very ancient bishop’s throne and an alabaster statue of the archangel carved, it is said, by Sansovino.

Crude votive offerings, painted or pinned to walls, touch or amuse according to taste. Touts and hawkers abound, every type of religious trinket is on sale, every useless object from coloured pebbles to painted feathers is pressed on the visitor. Quietest places in town are two museums: the Tancredi of popular traditions and the St Michael of religious history. Recover from the heat and stuffy atmosphere by walking uphill through woods on the mountain; or wander round the Junno, a medieval quarter; or drive 6 km south to Pulsano abbey, founded 6thC, and its gorge whose steep rock faces, pockmarked with hermits’ caves and echoing to the screams of seabirds and ravens, plunge 250 m.