Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, Forum of Historical - Religious Paths

The complex of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi, the Goleto Abbey, aims to be a reference for walking routes and itineraries in the unexplored belly of Italy. On Friday 30 and Saturday 31 May the meeting and discussion with 50 scholars, writers, academics and enthusiasts, to then tackle the Walk on the Laceno-Goleto stage on Sunday 1 June.

The choice of the Goleto Abbey as the venue for the second National Forum was not accidental.
The site is welcoming and functional following the latest restoration campaign recently concluded. The beautiful ‘Sala dell’Arco’ with 99 seats, the abbey Info-point and the new Museum dedicated to San Guglielmo, founder of Montevergine and Goleto, will be open to the public for the occasion, with a multimedia focus dedicated to the Walk that bears his name.
 
The second Forum is part of the intangible actions financed by the PNRR - Attractiveness of the Villages - Cultural and Social Regeneration Projects of Small Historic Villages, thanks to the intuition had in 2022 by the mayors of the Municipalities of Chiusano di San Domenico, leader, and Ospedaletto D'Alpinolo.

After more than two years of intense work carried out by a group of professionals and enthusiasts, dreamers and spiritual guides, the Cammino di Guglielmo is today an established reality that has already demonstrated not only its validity, but also all its unexpressed potential with the construction of a relationship between the internal areas of Campania, Basilicata and Puglia. In these days the first independent walkers, arriving from different Italian regions, have completed the entire 320 km route, from the Abbey of Montevergine to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre of Barletta. The Abbey of Goleto, in Alta Irpinia, is the arrival of the "Stage 5" that starts from the Grotta dell'Apparizione on Lake Laceno and crosses extraordinary mountain landscapes passing through the Pozzo di S. Guglielmo and Fontigliano di Nusco. This stage will be covered in its entirety on Sunday 1st June at the conclusion of the Forum.
 
The 'Stage 5' starts from the 'Grotta dell'Apparizione' on Lake Laceno (1,050 m. above sea level), in the Municipality of Bagnoli Irpino and, passing through the 'Pozzo di S. Guglielmo' (1,369 m. above sea level), at the foot of the 'Montagnone' of Nusco and the area of ​​Fontigliano (Nusco), arrives at the Abbey of Goleto in the Municipality of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi (555 m. above sea level). The length is approximately 24 km.

For the occasion, the gate of the cave where Guglielmo, a hermit, lived around 1130 before undertaking the construction of the double monastery of Goleto, is reopened by the Municipal Administration of Bagnoli.

Over 50 walkers will offer pieces of knowledge and experiences to shape a mosaic of hidden wonders and travel new paths. After the official presentation in 2024 of the Cammino di Guglielmo during the first national Forum at the Palazzo Abbaziale del Loreto in Mercogliano, expert speakers of international importance return to discuss the theme of historical religious paths. Thanks to the hospitality of the Abbot of Montevergine Monsignor Riccardo Luca Guariglia and the Archdiocese of Altirpina, the restored rooms of the Abbey of Goleto in Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi will welcome over 50 people, including scholars, academics, enthusiasts and writers from all over Europe. The 2025 forum will see the participation of the referents of the 15 stages of the path, such as mayors, parish priests, delegates of associations, friends of the Path, and experts in the field. But it is mainly aimed at opening the debate between internationally renowned expert speakers in the sector, to investigate not only other important routes of already consolidated international paths, but also to replicate good practices and transfer methods and tools that have proven successful to the Italian context. For this reason, a focus will be dedicated in particular to the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

The Abbeys of Montevergine and Goleto, the supporting Dioceses, the administrations of the Municipalities crossed by the route and the "Friends of the Walk" promote the development of the historical-religious itinerary in a perspective that combines spirituality, art, culture, beauty and valorization of territories; especially of the small towns in the inland areas that are inexorably experiencing the process of depopulation.

In this context, the complex of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi can aspire to become a national reference for historical-religious walks and inaugurate a map of spiritual and naturalistic itineraries ready to intersect projects and opportunities already prepared.

Relationship between Stage 5 with Saint William and his miracles

At the start of Stage 5, near the ancient ‘casone’ on Lake Laceno, going down a short slope, you reach the Grotto of St. William which tradition says was inhabited as a hermitage by William. Here, the Lord appeared to William and John of Matera: “Ne stes in loco isto, Johannes in orientem et Guillelmus in occidentem”; the two hermits had to separate: John had to go to the east and William to the west. Popular tradition has called it the grotto of Santa Nesta, for the words pronounced by Christ “ne stes”. William went down into the Ofanto valley where he founded the Goleto monastery while John went to the Gargano (to the east) where the abbey of Santa Maria di Pulsano still stands today.

Goleto, the arrival point of Stage 5, is the central place in the life of the Saint. Here he gave life to the ‘plan’ of the double monastery headed by an abbess and here he decided to die and be buried; it is therefore a place reported many times in the ‘Legend’; some miracles are also narrated there. To visit in the Abbey of Goleto: the Multimedia Museum dedicated to the life of William and the Way, where you can have a historical, chronological and geographical overview of the abbey and its surroundings; among the few surviving works of art is the recomposed Ciborium of St. William; not to be missed is the Church of St. Luke, the large open-air church called ‘Vaccaro, the Febronia Tower and the general layout with two cloisters and two monasteries.