The sanctuary of Sant'Antonio abate does not stand in the village but a dozen kilometres away, on top of the Altojanni plateau. Its foundation goes back to the end of the fourteenth century, and tradition credits it to the will of Queen Joanna. Beside the church lie the archaeological remains of a settlement that no longer exists: a proper medieval town, gone for reasons nobody knows, probably as early as the fifteenth century, of which the sanctuary is now the one living building.
What to see
Of that vanished town there survive the ruins of the tower of Altojanni, the traces of a defensive structure and of a church, and a good number of pits dug into the ground to store food: they were the settlement's larders, and they are the plainest evidence of how many people lived up here. The sanctuary, on the other hand, was never abandoned, and that is why the name Altojanni has not been lost altogether: the people of Grottole kept climbing up even after the town had emptied.
Visiting
Three dates matter: 17 January, the liturgical feast of the Egyptian saint, then Pentecost Sunday with the Monday and Tuesday that follow. Those are the pilgrimage days, when the plateau fills up. Outside them the place is on its own, twelve kilometres from the village, so it is worth asking at the town hall before setting off.
Our editors' tip
Walk around the church before you look at it: the ruins of the tower and the storage pits are a few steps away, and realising that the sanctuary is the surviving piece of a whole town changes the scale of what you are standing in front of.