DAY 1: U.S.A. /ROME - Monday

We will depart to Rome. Dinner and breakfast will be served aboard the flight.

DAY 2: ROME - Tuesday

Arrival in Rome, meeting with our Tour Leader and driver and transfer to the city. Accomodation then guided tour of the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran. Six Popes are entombed here. Next door is the Holy Staircase (Scala Santa), brought from Pilate’s Palace in Jerusalem by Saint Helena in the 4th century. Climbing the stairs on your knees is a devotion that many pilgrims perform, and a plenary indulgence is granted for completing this feat.

Continue on your pilgrim journey to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Maria Maggiore). We celebrate Mass here. This is the largest Marian church in Rome. Its construction began after the Council of Ephesus in 431 proclaimed that Mary was the Mother of God. Saint Jerome, translator of the Bible into the Latin Vulgate, is buried here.

Time at disposal for prayer and meditation.

Dinner and overnight at our hotel

DAY 3: ROME - Wednesday

After Breakfast, we will transfer in St Peter Square for the Audience with the pope**. At the end free time for lunch and then visit of the Vatican Museum, The Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Cathedral.. Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel between 1508 and 1512, and later painted The Last Judgment between 1535 and 1541 for Popes Clement VII and Paul III. The primary function of the chapel is the Papal Conclave, providing the place where the College of Cardinals of the church gathers to select a new Pope. Then walk through Saint Peter’s Basilica, The present structure completed in 1590 was built over the Byzantine and Middle Ages structures that marked the tomb of Saint Peter. There are more than 100 tombs within the basilica, including most recently Saint John Paul II.

Dinner and overnight in hotel

DAY 4: ROME - Thursday

Breakfast in hotel then guided tour of the ancient Rome. We will start with the visita at the coliseum, also called anfiteatro Flavio. The we will proceed through via dei fori imperiali and we will end the visit with the Carcere Mamertino where st Peter were prisoned. Free time for lunch, in the afternoon guided visit of the center of Rome where we can admire Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, The church of St agostino where is conserved the Michelangelo famous painting “The Pilgrim’s Virgins”, The Church of San Luigi dei Francesi where we can admire the other famos Caravaggio Paint “The Conversion of St Matthew”. We will end with Fontana di Trevi and The Spanish Steps.

Dinner and overnight in hotel

DAY 5: ROME

Breakfast in Hotel. Visit of the fourth Papal Basilica of Rome: St Paul outside the wall. At the beginning of the 4th century, with the end of the persecutions and the promulgation of the Edicts of Tolerance in favour of Christianity, Emperor Constantine ordered the excavation of the cella memoriae, the place where Christians venerated the memory of Saint Paul the Apostle, beheaded under Nero around 65-67 A.D. Above his grave, located along the Ostiense Way, about two kilometers outside the Aurelian Walls surrounding Rome, Constantine built a Basilica which was consecrated by Pope Sylvester in 324.In the fifth century under the Pontificate of Leo the Great, the Basilica became the home of a long series of medallions which would to this day depict all the popes throughout history. This testifies, in an extraordinary way, to “the very great, the very ancient and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul”. In addition to the Papal Basilica, the entire complex includes a very ancient Benedictine Abbey, restored by Odon of Cluny in 936. This Abbey remains active even today under the direction of its Abbot who retains his ordinary jurisdiction intra septa monasterii. The Benedictine Monks of the ancient Abbey, founded near the tomb of the Apostle by Pope Gregory II (715-731), attend to the ministry of Reconciliation (or Penance) and the promotion of special ecumenical events. Visit of St Sebastian Catacombs and Holy Mass. Afternoon at disposal for personal Prayer and meditation. Dinner and overnight.

DAY 6: ROME/ASSISI

Breakfast in hotel and departure to Assisi. Guided visit of the city: Visit the Church of St. Clare which houses her incorrupt body. One of the chapels contains the crucifix that bowed its head and ordered St. Francis to “repair God’s Church”. Then tour the Basilica of St. Francis built in 1228 to house the Relics of the saint. The “upper “ basilica houses beautiful frescoes of Giotto. It is from these frescoes that we will know and understand the life and the spirit of St. Francis. In The afternoon, visit of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Is the seventh largest Christian church. Its magnificence may be at odds with the simplicity preached by St Francis himself but the flocks of pilgrims coming to visit the primitive Porziuncola chapel and the Cappella del Transito called for a building that was able to accomodate the faithful. The Porziuncola chapel was given to St Francis by the Benedictines, and is important because it was the initial nucleus from which the Franciscan order was born. The Cappella del Transito is the place where the saint died on October 4th 1226.i.. Dinner and overnight in Assisi.

DAY 7: ASSISI/FLORENCE

Breakfast in Hotel and transfer to Florence. Upon Arrival full day visit of Florence: Piazza del Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore, the St. John Battistero, and the Giotto Bell Tower. Free time for lunch and continue of the visits with Piazza della Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio, the “Ponte vecchio”, where many gold artisan has their ancient laboratory, then the Boboli’s Garden. Visit of the Church of St Ambrogio. Built in 989 in memory of the place where the Saint were hosted in 393 when visited the city. This Church is famous for two Eucharistic miracle. The first in 1230 when the Parrish priest name Uguccione, after the celebration of the mass found drops of blood in the Calix, the second in 1595 when a burning took place in the church in the Tabernacle, buth the Hosts were preserved by the fire. Holy mass. Dinner and overnight in Florence

DAY 8: FLORENCE

Breakfast in Hotel and second day visit of Florence. Visit of The Boboli Garden and Santo Spirito Square with the Church of Santo Spirit. Visit of the church of santa Maria Novella, the Holy Cross square and The holy Cross Church. In the afternoon free time and possibility of Visit the Uffizi Museum. Dinner and overnight in Florence

DAY 9: FLORECE/PADOVA/VENICE

Breakfast in Hotel and transfer to Venice. During the wy to venice stop in Padua. A particular facet of this city is its religious aspect, stemming from the providential intervention of the Franciscan monk Anthony against the spread of usury at the beginning of the 13th century. Beatified one year after his death the basilica of Saint Anthony was built to house his remains, an imposing spiritual monument blending several architectural styles – Romanesque, Gothic, Byzantine, Moorish – which houses many splendid works of art. Today the church is a centre of pilgrimage from all over the world. Visit of the the fresco cycle of Giotto, created at the beginning of the 1300s and to be found in the Scrovegni chapel. At the end of the visits, departure to venice. Transfer by boat to the hotel, dinner and overnight.

DAY 10: VENICE

Breakfast in Hotel. In the morning walking guided visit of the center of the city: San Marco Square with its cathedral, The rialto bridge, The Sospiri’s Bridge, Fondaco degli aureli and the Ca’ D’Oro. Free time for lunch. In the afternoon Cruise on the Island of the Venice lagoon: Murano, Burano, Torcello. Return to the hotel inner and overnight.

DAY11 : VENICE/USA

After our breakfast, time at glance and then we transfer to the airport to fly back at home keeping the incredible memories of an unforgettable journey.