Events - Pilgrimage to Italy Calendar View

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Board your transatlantic flight to Rome. Meals are served onboard.

On arrival to Rome meet & greet service. Bus transfer to Assisi for dinner and overnight.

Celebrate Mass at the Basilica of St Francis. Explore the burial place of the Patron Saint of Italy and the Basilica of St. Clare. Here you may kneel before the crucifix from which Jesus spoke to St Francis, asking him to rebuild His church. After lunch visit the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore with the relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis. Proceed to St Mary of the Angels Basilica where St Francis spent most of his life. Here we see the Portiuncola, the rose garden, and the cave where the saint retired for prayer. Dinner and overnight in Assisi.

Transfer to Siena, the birthplace of Saints Catherine and Bernadine and Italy's loveliest medieval city. Sightseeing of Siena takes you to the Basilica of St Dominic where we venerate the incorrupt head of St Catherine and celebrate Mass. Continue to the Cathedral and Piazza Del Campo. If time permitting visit the Basilica of St Francis, containing the miraculous consecrated hosts. Dinner and overnight in the area of Siena.

Transfer to Florence for a full day excursion. Sightseeing tour to the religious and political centers of the Italian Renaissance's capital, Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore and Piazza Signoria. Mass at the Basilica of Santa Croce. Return to the hotel near Siena for dinner and overnight.

Transfer to Padua where we celebrate Mass at the Basilica of St Anthony by the tomb of the great miracle maker and patron saint of lost things. Continue on a sightseeing tour including Pratto Della Valle, one of the biggest squares in Italy and basilica of Santa Giustina. Dinner and overnight in Padua.

Departure for Venice for a tour of the city. Visit the Golden Basilica with the tomb of St Mark, the patron saint of Venice, where we celebrate Mass. Afternoon at leisure, free time to shop, to explore Venice or perhaps take an optional gondola ride. Dinner and overnight in Padua.

Morning transfer to Loreto, with a visit to the Basilica where part of the home of the Holy Family of Nazareth now stands. Tradition has it that this is the house in which Mary first prayed the Magnificat, in which Jesus grew to manhood, and in which the Holy Family lived. Afternoon at leisure. Dinner and overnight in Loreto.

Drive through the countryside of Marche heading to Manoppello. Celebrate Mass and visit the church of the Volto Santo di Manoppello, housing an image, the cloth made of a rare fiber called byssus, which has been suggested to be the Veil of Veronica. Transfer to Padre Pio's town of San Giovanni Rotondo for dinner and overnight.

Visit the sites of Padre Pio's life including his tomb and cell. Celebrate Mass in the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie where Padre Pio lived. Afternoon at leisure. Dinner and overnight in San Giovanni Rotondo.

Depart to Rome. Stop en route in Monte Cassino. Visit the Benedictine Monastery built in 529 AD. Celebrate Mass by the tomb of St Benedict & St Scholastica and learn more about the monastic tradition. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

Guided visit of St Peter's Basilica, Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel. In the afternoon tour the “Ancient Rome” – Colosseum, Forum Romanum and the Capitolin Hill. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

Sightseeing tour of “Christian Rome”. Morning Mass at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the burial site of the Apostle of Gentiles. Continue on to visit St John Lateran and proceed to Scala Sancti, the Holy Stairs that Jesus had climbed before being sentenced to death. After lunch see St Mary Major the first Marian shrine in the Catholic Church. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

Attend the Papal General Audience at the Vatican and receive the Blessing of the Holy Father. Lunch break in Vatican. In the afternoon visit the Catacombs of St. Calixtus where we celebrate Mass. After dinner at the hotel enjoy tour of the “eternal city” by night including Trevi Fountain.

Excursion to Subiaco. Celebrate Mass at St Benedict's monastery built around the Sacro Speco (Holy Cave) where St Benedict lived for three years. Here St Benedict wrote his Rule. After lunch visit St Scholastica's Monastery, built by Benedict and his twin sister, Scholastica, and originally one of twelve in this area. Return to Rome for dinner and overnight.