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4. Stairs by Rodio
Born in Locorotondo (Bari) on 30th November 1743 he became a Franciscan Tertiary and served in various Convents of the Puglia region. In the Holy Year 1775 he formed a friendship with St Benedetto Giuseppe Labre who indicated the Cave of Our Lady in Castel S. Elia as a suitable place for a life as a hermit. With the arrival of Rodio (1777) a new era began for the Shrine. Nominated by the Bishop Filippo Mornati “Guardian of the Shrine” he devoted his whole life to Our Lady. During the 42 years that he spent at the Cave, he rearranged the interior of the Shrine, he improved the little square in front of the Shrine and the “Road of the Saints”, the only existing pathway for reaching the Cave that started from the Basilica of St Elia below the crag of the Suppentonia Valley.
In order to ease access to the Cave for the many pilgrims, he invented the idea of excavating a tunnel in the tufa rock. In 1782 he struck rock with his pickaxe for the first time and after fourteen years of untiring work he finally opened the stairs with its 144 steps. He died at the age of 76, in the odour of sanctity, on 11th January 1819, and was buried in the tomb that he had excavated near the altar of Our Lady. The Cause for his Beatification was opened in 1965. His place as guardian of the Shrine was taken successively by the hermits: Costantino Antimucci (1819-1839), Giuseppe Zimmermann (1832-1866), Giovanni Maestro (1866-1892), Alfonso Alfonsi (just a few months).
Rodio’s stairs
A tunnel with 144 steps (146 after the 1944 bombardment), 40 metres long, 1.5-2metres wide and more than 3 metres in height with a difference in level of 17.10 metres. It was completed, in 1850, by the guardian G. Zimmermann with large oak boards, still in place.
