The Classic Pilgrimage to Italy is in 9 days. You will visit Rome, including the Audience with the Holy Father (on Wednesdays), the Jubilee Basilicas and Ancient Rome, then Assisi, the city of St. Francis, Pompeii with the Sanctuary to the Virgin of the Rosary known all over the world. The itinerary is enriched with other important religious, tourist and cultural themes as Renaissance Rome, Giotto's frescoes in Assisi, the places of Santa Rita of Cascia, the Benedictine Monastery of Monte Cassino, the ancient excavations of the Roman city of Pompeii and the excursion to the fabulous island of Capri.

---

Travel itinerary

DEPARTURE
Departure from your airport to Italy. Meals and overnight on board.

Day 1     WELCOME TO ROME
After customs formalities, you will meet with your English and Spanish speaking guide companions. Transfer by private bus to the hotel. Check-in and rest in your room. In the afternoon, a panoramic view of classical and baroque Rome. You will visit some of the most famous sights of the city such as the Trevi Fountain, Piazza di Spagna with Trinità dei Monti, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon among the most important monuments of the Roman Empire, the term of Greek origin means “temple dedicated to all the gods”, then transformed into a Christian basilica, Piazza Colonna with the statue of Marcus Aurelius on horseback and the temple of Hadrian.
Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight.

Day 2   ANCIENT AND RENAISSANCE ROME and on the steps of ST. PAU
The guided tour begins with the Imperial Forums, Circus Maximus and Colosseum, the most famous of the Roman amphitheaters of the ancient world. Nearby we will visit the church of San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains) to admire one of Michelangelo’s masterpieces: Moses. Free time for a quick lunch.  In the afternoon you will visit the Catacombs of San Sebastiano, a place of burial and refuge of Christians, then the great Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura (Saint Paul Outside the Walls), and then stop at the Abbey of the Three Fountains, the place of martyrdom of St. Paul.
Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight.

Day 3   ROME: HOLY FATHER AUDIENCE, JUBILEE BASILICAS OF ST. JOHN LATERAN AND SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE
In the morning we will attend the Audience of the Holy Father in St. Peter’s Square (or in the Paul VI Hall (depending on the season). The Audience is celebrated every Wednesday, presided over by the Holy Father (to be reconfirmed).  After the Audience the time remains for the free visit of St. Peter’s Basilica. We suggest the climb to the first level to the dome and inside the tombs of the Popes and the Pietà of Michelangelo. Free time for a quick lunch. In the afternoon you will reach by coach the Cathedral of Rome: San Giovanni in Laterano, Saint John Lateron the seat of the Diocese of Rome, near the Holy Staircase. Then the Marian Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore dedicated to Santa Maria della Neve is reached as an ancient Roman tradition.
Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight.

 Day 4  ROME – CASCIA – ASSISI
Breakfast and Checkout. After about three hours of travel you will reach Roccaporena, birthplace of Santa Rita and visit the places where she lived with her husband, then converted to Christianity. You go down to Cascia and visit the convent where the Saint lived after the death of her husband and children, and where the grandiose Sanctuary was erected in her honor and a place of visit of pilgrims from all over the world. In the crypt we pray on the crypt that preserves her corrupted body. Free break for lunch at a restaurant and free time to review some religious souvenirs.  In the afternoon to Assisi,
Our hotel in Santa Maria degli Angeli welcomes you for dinner and overnight.

Day 5  ASSISI, THE BASILICA OF ST. FRANCIS, ST. CLARE AND ST. MARY OF ANGELS
Day dedicated to the guided tour of Assisi, the atmosphere of spirituality that you breathe takes us back to the times of the Saint and his ministry. A lot of time will be spent visiting the Basilica, the first example of a transition from Romanesque to Gothic-Italian. At the top you can admire a cycle of frescoes of Giotto and his school among the most important with the scenes of the saint’s life, then the lower basilica in an atmosphere of spirituality around the tomb of San Francesco (Saint Francis) and still high above more pictorial works. Our itinerary continues through the medieval city crossing the Town Hall Square to the church of Santa Chiara, among the first followers of St. Francis and founder of the Order of the Clarisse nuns. The late Romanesque-Gothic church encloses the tomb of the Saint in the crypt. You have some free time for lunch and may purchase in the many souvenir shops. In the afternoon you visit the Convent of San Damiano, located in an oasis of peace and spirituality, it is the privileged place of the origins of St. Francis and his conversion, which later became a convent of the Clarisse sisters. Then you go down for the visit to the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, the majesty of the Sanctuary gathers inside with the small chapel of the “Porziuncola” or Chapel of Transit, here St. Francis died on the evening of October 3, 1226 at just 44 years old, and laid naked on the earth as he had requested.
Return to the hotel, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 6   ASSISI – Abbeys of CASAMARI and MONTECASSINO – NAPLES
Breakfast and Checkout.  We continue our itinerary through the green Umbria, the highway and the beautiful panorama of Ciociara.  After about 3½ hours of coach you reach the Abbey of Casamari, a splendid example of a Cistercian abbey.  A guided tour of the basilica and cloister.  You stop for lunch in a restaurant.  In the afternoon the route guides us through the valley of the River Liri in Roccasecca and Aquino, the birthplace and life of St. Thomas Aquinas, and you reach the Abbey of Montecassino, high on a hill overlooking the valley. The ancient Abbey, during World War II became a refuge for the German army and was destroyed by bombing by Allied (American) forces, later completely rebuilt faithful to the original.  In the crypt of Montecassino Abbey are the tombs of St. Benedict and his sister Saint Scholastic. At the end of the visit our journey continues to reach Naples. Accommodation in the hotel, Dinner and overnight stay.

Day 7   NAPLES and POMPEII
Breakfast and then you depart for Pompeii. Visit to the Shrine dedicated to the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary, a devotion known all over the world. Followed by a guided tour of the excavations of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, buried under the ash by the eruption of the Mount Vesuvius volcano in 79 ad.  Free time for lunch. In the afternoon a panorama of the city of Naples: the Duomo (Cathedral) with the chapel of the miracle of San Gennaro, Piazza del Plebiscito, Mergellina and Santa Lucia. Dinner in a typical Neapolitan pizzeria.
Return to the hotel for overnight stay.

Day 8    NAPLES – ISLAND OF CAPRI – ROME
Breakfast and checkout. Transfer to the port and boarding on the Hydrofoil for Capri, on arrival a guided tour of the island famous all over the world.  A walk in the historic center and admire the view of the “Faraglioni” (Water Rocks).  Free time for lunch. The possibility to reach the Blue Grotto by boat is optional. In the afternoon departure for Rome, typical Roman dinner of “Goodbye” with music. Returning to the hotel, a brief overview of “Roma by Night”.
Overnight at the hotel.

Day 9    RETURN HOME
Early morning breakfast (operating flights permitting), airport transfer, boarding assistance and departure home.

End of Services

 

Additional informations

Download PDF