The church of Sant'Egidio di Pantano, of which the ruin, rises about 3 km east of San Giovanni Rotondo, located at the foot of the Monte Calvo on a natural terrace overlooking a vast expanse, oriented east-west, which hosted an alluvial lake which has now been reclaimed, called Pantano, which still gives its name to the area.
The existence of the church of Sant'Egidio was first documented in 1086, in a deed of donation by the Norman count Enrico, lord of Monte Sant'Angelo, of the church itself and other surrounding lands, including the lake, to the Benedictine abbey of the SS. Trinity of Cava de' Tirreni. Upon the donation, the monks of Cava came into possession not only of the church, already ruined or still under construction, but also of numerous lands and the right to fish in the marsh.
The church originally was most likely made up of a small nucleus which, thanks to the industriousness of the monks, was expanded and enriched with all the furnishings necessary for the services and celebrations.
The ability of cavensi priors who succeeded each other at the helm of the small monastic community, favored both the increase in land holdings, purchasing land located in every part of the Gargano, and the assistance and hospitality to pilgrims and wayfarers who, traveling along the 'Via Francesca', they went to the city of Monte Sant'Angelo to visit the Michaelic sanctuary.
In fact, in a document dated July 1113 there is mention of ahospitalis Sancti Benedicti', a reception structure that most likely did not exist before the arrival of the Cava monks.
During the 12th century, a village (also called farmhouse) of settlers was established near this community of monks, over which the abbot of Cava exercised his jurisdiction through a bailiff.
The changed economic-social situation that characterized the entire region during the 13th century marked the decline and sudden disappearance of the village and the transfer of the inhabitants to closed localities, in fact in 1270 the 'casale di Sant'Egidio' was abandoned.
The documentation currently available to us does not allow us to know whether the monastic presence was continuous or sporadic in the following centuries, what is certain is that during the fourteenth century some monks were still present in Sant'Egidio leading an almost hermitic life in the rooms attached to the church itself.
However, documents relating to the 1613th and XNUMXth centuries suggest that the custody of the church was entrusted to an oblate from Cava, while the officiating was carried out by a priest from San Giovanni Rotondo: in XNUMX, in fact, mass was celebrated every Saturday; the church was frequented until the nineteenth century even after the suppression of 1807, following which the people of Cava lost their dependence on Sant'Egidio and the territory was united with the surrounding state property.
In the documents in the possession of the Abbey of Cava de' Tirreni there is a single reference, as regards the furnishings, to a painting of the Madonna placed on the main altar of the church; there is no reference to its construction or internal structure.
In this regard, the documentation is useful, consisting of the Pastoral Visits carried out periodically by the bishops of the diocese of Manfredonia, relating to the 17th and 18th centuries. They contain quite precise descriptions of the conditions of the church, the altars, and the furnishings. Currently there are no altars visible inside the church.
There are also no shortages hints of popular devotion in the attestation in 1676 of a procession'which is done from the mother church to this church of Sant'Egidio on the third feast of Easter'.