11 Days Touring South Italy Shrines
DAY 1: U.S.A. / Europe
Tour members will depart to Rome. Dinner and breakfast will be served aboard the flight.
DAY 2: Rome/Norica
Upon arrival in Rome, we’ll meet with our tour leader and driver at airport and transfer to Norcia. This small city in the heart of the Sibillini Mountains was the city of born of St Benedict. We’ll visit the city, and in the evening at 07.30 pm, if we are lucky, the frere will allow us to participate to the Compieta. This is the last prayer in the evening during which 13 freres will sing in the crypt of St. Benedict Church. It’s an amazing experience that should followed in complete silence without any word and photo. The participation is submitted to the allowance of the freres, so it is not guaranteed. At the end, we’ll have dinner and stay overnight.
DAY 3: Norica/Lanciano
Eat breakfast in the hotel and depart to Lanciano. During the transfer, we will stop in the Land of Castelluccio. During the month of June and July, it’s possible to admire impressive blooming flowers that paint all the land of different colors. We’ll stop in Ascoli, a fantastic medieval city, and have free time for lunch.
In the late afternoon, we’ll arrive in Lanciano and participate in holy mass. Lanciano is famous for the Miracle of Lanciano that dates back to the eighth century when a monk who had doubts about the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist found, when he said the words of consecration at Mass, that the bread and wine changed into flesh and blood. It has been certified by the Catholic Church as a Eucharistic Miracle. Visit the city, have dinner, and stay overnight.
DAY 4: Lanciano/San Giovanni Rotondo
Breakfast in Hotel and departure to San Giovanni Rotondo. Stop in Monte Sant’Angelo and Holy Mass. Monte Sant'Angelo as a town appeared only in the eleventh century. Between 1081 and 1103, Monte Sant'Angelo was the capital of a large Norman dominion under the control of Count Henry, who was a vassal of the Byzantine Empire. The grotto which houses the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel where according to legend, St. Michael appeared in 490, 492 and 493, has been the site of many famous pilgrimages, which started from Mont Saint-Michel. Pope John Paul II visited the sanctuary in 1987. The sanctuary is one of the UNESCO world Heritage sites. Arrival in San Giovanni Rotondo and visit to St Pio sanctuary. Dinner and overnight.
DAY 5: San Giovanni Rotondo/Matera
Breakfast in Hotel, holy mass and departure to Matera. After arriving in Matera, we’ll start our visit of this incredible city located in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera are comprised of a complex series of houses, churches, monasteries and hermitages built into the natural caves of the Murgia. Covering an area of 1,016 ha (hectare), this remarkable and intact troglodyte settlement contains more than a thousand dwellings and a large number of shops and workshops. The property was first occupied during the Palaeolithic period and shows evidence of continuous human occupation through several millennia until the present day where it is harmoniously integrated into the natural terrain and ecosystem. The site is composed of the ancient districts of the city of Matera and of the Park of the Rupestrian Churches which stretch over the Murgia, a calcareous highland plateau characterized by deep fault fissures, ravines, rocks and caves. The morphology of the territory, characterized by deep ravines (gravine) and bare highland plateaus, integrated with ancient cave churches, shepherd tracks marked by wells, and fortified farmhouses, forms one of the most evocative landscapes of the Mediterranean. This city has been chosen from many movie directors to be location of their Movie. We can mention Pier Paolo Pasolini and Mel Gibson that choose Mater for His “The Passion”. Dinner and overnight.
DAY 6: Matera/Naples
Breakfast in hotel and continue to visit the city. At the end of the day, we’ll depart to Naples.
We’ll arrive in Naples in the evening for dinner and overnight.
DAY 7: Naples/Rome
Breakfast in hotel, and we’ll visit the city of Naples. We will explore the highlights of the city: Piazza del Plebiscito, the Cathedral and the church, and convent of San Gregorio Armeno. There are no words for how richly ornamented 16th-century monastic complex is. The church packs a visual punch with its lavish wood and papier-mâché choir stalls, sumptuous altar by Dionisio Lazzari, and Luca Giordano's masterpiece fresco The Embarkation, Journey and Arrival of the Armenia Nuns with the Relics of St Gregory. Excess gives way to soothing tranquility in the picture-perfect cloisters, accessible through the gate on Vico Giuseppe Maffei. The area around the convents are famous all around the world for the artisan of the nativity. At the end of the visit, we’ll depart to Rome. But not before eating the original Pizza! Dinner and overnight in Rome.
DAY 8: Rome
After breakfast, we will transfer in St Peter Square for the Audience with the Pope**. At the end free time for lunch, we’ll then visit 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. We’ll 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 9: Rome
After breakfast in hotel, join a 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.
Transfer by bus to the monastery of St Gregorio al Celio and testify of Mercy at the community of the Missionary sisters of Charity (sisters of Mary Therese of Calcutta).
In the afternoon, continue 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.
Dinner and overnight at our hotel.
DAY 10: Rome
Breakfast in hotel and then guided tour of the ancient Rome. We will start with the visit at the coliseum, also called anfiteatro Flavio. Then, we will proceed through via dei fori imperiali and end the visit with the Carcere Mamertino, where st Peter were prisoned. Free time for lunch. In the afternoon, we’ll follow a guided tour 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”, and The Church of San Luigi dei Francesi where we can admire the other famous Caravaggio painting, “The Conversion of St Matthew”. We will end with Fontana di Trevi and The Spanish Steps.
Dinner and overnight in hotel.
DAY 11 : Rome/U.S.A.
After our breakfast, we transfer to the airport to fly back at home keeping the incredible memories of an unforgettable journey.
** The audience of the Pope are every Wednesday except when the pope is not in the Vatican (July and August and during his pastoral trips)