This is a SAMPLE ITINERARY, which may serve as a starting point for planning your customized group pilgrimage. Contact us to customize a tour based on your desired travel dates and destinations.
Day 1: Depart USA / Rome, Italy
Day 2: Assisi
Arrive Rome where you will be met by your tour escort and awaiting motor coach after clearing customs and retrieving your luggage. Transfer to Assisi and check in at your Hotel. Enjoy dinner tonight at your hotel.
Day 3: Assisi
This morning, begin the day with Mass in the Basilica of St. Francis. After breakfast, you will participate in a guided tour of Assisi including such sites as the beautiful Basilica of St Francis, the Church of Santa Clara, which houses her incorrupt body and the Basilica of St Mary of the Angels which houses the Porziuncola. Remainder of day is free. Possibly hike up to the Hermitage, visit San Damiano, or simply explore the many winding uphill streets filled with shops and cafes. Dinner tonight at your hotel.
Day 4: Assisi / Lanciano / San Giovanni Rotondo
Depart Assisi this morning after breakfast. Drive east to Lanciano, a city noted for the Eucharistic Miracle, which became the foundation for the Feast Day of Corpus Christi. Mass will be celebrated here. Continue in the afternoon toward the Adriatic Coast and arrive at San Giovanni Rotondo late afternoon. Check-in at your hotel and enjoy dinner before retiring for the evening.
Day 5: San Giovanni Rotondo
Today, we celebrate Mass at the Tomb of St. Padre Pio. Afterward, visit sites associated with the life of this simple Capuchin monk noted for his deep humility, pious exercises and the stigmata he bore of the wounds of Christ. Three days after the monks celebrated the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis, St. Padre Pio was “gifted” with the outward signs of the wounds of Christ, though he had suffered from these wounds for 8 years internally. Visits include his tomb and cell, the old church where he received the stigmata, and his confessional. Dinner and overnight in SGR.
Day 6: San Giovanni / Pietrelcina / Rome
Today we will head to Rome. En route, stop at Monte Sant’Angelo, where St. Michael appeared in 490. Visit the Sanctuary of Monte Sant’Angelo, built in the 13th century by Charles I of Anjou. Continue to Pietralcina, birthplace of St. Padre Pio. Mass is scheduled here at Santa Maria degli Angeli in the church where St. Padre Pio celebrated his first Mass, followed by visits of his home, and the Sacred Family Church, which houses a museum dedicated to the life of the saint. Continue on to Rome for dinner and Overnight.
Day 7: Rome
Your day begins with breakfast followed by a full day tour of Rome. Begin with guided tour of Christian Rome visiting the three major basilicas including St. Mary Major, where Mass will be celebrated, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul Outside the Walls, and complete the tour with a visit to the Catacombs. In the afternoon visit sites associated with Ancient Rome, including the Appian Way, the Arch of Constantine, the Palatine Hill and the Colosseum, including an interior tour. After dinner return to the Hotel for overnight.
Day 8: Rome
Walk to St. Peter’s for the Papal Audience (depending on the Holy Fathers schedule). Afterwards we will have a brief stop for lunch, on your own, before continuing with an afternoon tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. Mass will be celebrated at a local church in the afternoon. Dinner and overnight.
Day 9: Rome
After Mass the group will participate in a Scavi Tour, if confirmed. The balance of your day is free to explore Rome on your own. Overnight in Rome with dinner at your hotel.
Day 10: / Rome USA
Transfer to Fiumicino Airport for your return flight home.
