Make your way to your local airport, where you will board your overnight flight(s). Meals will be served on board.

Welcome to Rome, also known as “The Eternal City”. Upon landing at Rome airport, claim your baggage and proceed to the Arrivals Hall, where your tour guide and/or driver will greet you. Following check-in at the hotel, enjoy some free time to unpack, relax or explore Rome on your own. Your tour escort may suggest places to visit. Later this afternoon, between 3:00 PM and 3:30 PM, your group will meet in the hotel lobby for a meet and greet with fellow pilgrims and your priest. You will depart together for Mass, and following Mass, you will attend a welcome dinner. After dinner you have to opportunity to join in a walk to St. Peter’s Square for the Rosary (optional).

This morning, we will attend the Papal Audience in St. Peter’s Square or the Audience Hall. The Papal Audience is celebrated each Wednesday by His Holiness, Holy Father Pope Leo XIV (pending the papal schedule). (During the month of July, Papal Audiences are typically cancelled while the Holy Father resides in Castel Gandolfo. For tours occurring during this time, the Audience will be replaced with an excursion to Castel Gandolfo with the itinerary below: Upon arrival in Castel Gandolfo, we will visit Piazza della Libertà. Here, we will take a moment to admire the impressive facade of the Papal Palace, the Pope’s summer residence. Our visit continues with an exploration of the Papal Palace itself, including the Vatican Observatory and the breathtaking Barberini Gardens, which offer panoramic views of Lake Albano.) Next, head to the Piazza Navona area for some free time and lunch (on your own). This afternoon, visit the oldest of the four major Basilicas in Rome, the Archbasilica of St. John the Lateran, the cathedral church and seat of the Bishop of Rome. Cross the street to the Holy Stairs, which were brought to Rome by St. Helen in the 4th century. These were the same stairs that led up to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem, which Jesus climbed on His way to trial during His Passion. Our final stop will be at the Basilica of St. Mary Major which is dedicated to Our Lady. Here we will celebrate Holy Mass, and then have dinner and an overnight.

Tomb of Pope Benedict XVIToday we tour St. Peter’s Basilica, built on the site where St. Peter the Apostle was martyred. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to view Michelangelo’s Pieta sculpture, pray at the tombs of Pope Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II. Next you will visit the Vatican Museum, where you can see the Tapestry Gallery, Raphael Rooms, and Sistine Chapel. After lunch, continue down the Appian Way, one of the earliest roads built in ancient Rome to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls and the Catacombs. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

This morning, you will board the bus and enjoy the scenic route to the Abbey of Monte Cassino, the principal monastery of the Benedictine Order, founded by St. Benedict around 530 A.D. Continue on to San Giovanni Rotondo, where St. Pio of Pietrelcina (St. Padre Pio) lived for many decades and where thousands of people have flocked in order to be closer to this great saint and to Our Lord. Dinner and overnight in San Giovanni Rotondo.

Visit the Old Church of Our Lady of Grace, see the confessional from where St. Pio spent an innumerable number of hours listening to confessions. Next, you will board the bus and travel along the beautiful Gargano Peninsula to the Grotto of St. Michael the Archangel. Return for dinner and overnight in San Giovanni Rotondo.

*Candlelight Procession – Between May and October, attend the weekly candlelight procession at the Sanctuary of St. Pio after dinner, at 9:00 pm.

After an early breakfast and heartfelt farewells, you will leave for Bari airport for return flight home.

*206 Tours Disclaimer:
Occasionally local religious and national holidays, weather, traffic conditions and other events may necessitate changes in the sequence of events or the missing of certain events/places. Though every effort will be made to follow the itinerary, it should be considered as an indication, rather than a contract of events and places to be visited.