"Ministero per i Beni e le Attivita Culturali, Commune di Manfredonia: Chiesa di S. Leonardo di Siponto, sec. XII
Situated at the foot of Mount Gargano in a zone known as Lama Volara, the church was the last safe place for pilgrims to break their journey before climbing the Sacred Mountain to reach the sanctuary of St. Michael the Archangel. The building is the oldest part of a huge complex that comprised a convent and a hospitalium where the poor were given a shelter. Founded by the canons regular of St. Augustine - a community of Benedictines devoted to giving assistance to infirm pilgrims, mentioned in historical documents as far back as 1127 - the church's estate and property increased thanks to the protections of the Normans and reached its height of splendour between the second half of the XII and the middle of the XIII century, after which the Augustinians fell into decline. It was taken over by the Teutonic Knights who worked hard to bring improvements to the complex and enlarged both the church and the convent. They remained until 1482, year in which the Pope ordered them to hand over the complex to Cardinal Giacomo Sclafenato of Parma, who was succeeded by the cardinals of the Gaetani family (1561-1634), those of the Barberini family (until 1704), and lastly those of the Acquaviva of Aragon family (until 1788). At the end of the XII century the building probably appeared as we see today. The outside walls are characterized by a series of pilasters joined to small pensile arches that subdivide the main facade into five sections; the entrance portal stands in the central one. The nave and two side aisles, each terminating in a projecting apse, are separated by cruciform pillars. The two side aisles have a semi-barrel-vaulted roof, the first and third span of the nave are domed while the central span has a slightly pointed barrel-vaulted roof. Of particular interests is the ornate skylight in the vault: it is a gnomonic opening through which, at midday on the summer solstice, a ray of sun shines designing a circle of light exactly between th two pillars that stand near the side entrance on the north facade which looks onto the pilgrims' way. In fact, it is on this facade that a portal, much more magnificent than the main entrance, was built, so as to draw the attention of passers-by. Surrounded by a prothyrum resting on two column-bearing lions, the portal (end of XII century) is richly decorated: figures of humans and monsters restrained by elegant racemes are to be found on the jambs and archivoltes; the lunette is dominatd ba the figur of Christ in a vesica sustained by angels and surrounded by the symbols of the Evangelists; the figures of a man and a donkey (a reference to the biblical story about Balaam's donkey), the Archangel Michael, and the Adoration of the three Wise Men, are portrayed on the capitals."
Informationstafel an der Kirche San Leonardo di Siponto, engl. Text