The patron saint of San Giovanni Rotondo is Saint John the Baptist, celebrated on 24 June.
The ancient church dedicated to him, known as «la Rotonda», dates from the 6th-7th centuries and is the town's oldest and most historically significant religious building, from which the town took its name: inside it holds a wooden statue of the saint, a 15th-century work by an unknown southern Italian sculptor. The church was a required stop for the Lombards, as it stood along the Via Sacra Langobardorum leading to the grotto of Saint Michael the Archangel. The town today also holds the church of San Pio da Pietrelcina, linked to the figure of Padre Pio, who spent much of his life in San Giovanni Rotondo.
