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

Upon arrival at Palermo airport, you will meet your tour escort who will accompany you throughout your tour. We’ll transfer to our hotel in Palermo for dinner and overnight.

Spend a day exploring the best of Palermo. We’ll tour through Palermo’s colorful and bustling Ballaró street market – all spiced with an evocative whiff of Africa. See the top attractions in the old town of the Sicilian capital of Palermo, including the Teatro Massimo, Cathedral, and Politeama Theater. We will visit the Santuario of Santa Rosalia where the relics of the saint are kept. Born into a wealthy family, Rosalia felt a strong calling to a life of solitude and prayer. She fled to the mountains near Palermo, where she lived as a hermit and performed miracles. Rosalia’s holiness spread throughout Sicily, and people from all walks of life sought her intercession. Dinner and overnight in Palermo.

Following breakfast enjoy a scenic drive along the western coast of Sicily to the town of Erice, “the city of 100 churches,” located atop Mount Erice. We will pause here to embrace the breathtaking views overlooking all of Trapani. The day will be spent touring this wonderfully preserved medieval village, wandering down its cobbled alleys, visiting the Norman castle, and stopping in several of the over sixty catholic churches in the historic town. You will have a moment of free time in the afternoon to explore before continuing to the hill-topping town of Monreale, renowned for its Arab-flavored cathedral, blending Byzantine, Arab, Jewish, Gothic, and Norman traditions, heritage, and art. We’ll tour the cathedral’s interior of glittering, golden mosaics as well as the story-telling columns of the cloister. Return to Palermo for dinner and overnight.

This morning we’ll enjoy the ruins of Agrigento, one of the richest of the Greek colonies and a thriving democracy 2,500 years ago. We’ll focus on Agrigento’s ‘Valley of the Temples’ – the largest, best-preserved collection of ancient Greek buildings outside of Greece itself. Dinner and overnight.

Today drive to Siracusa, the city which well preserves its Greek origins. In fact, during your guided tour you will visit Neapolis Archaeological Site and the Greek Theatre. We’ll visit this place which illustrates the ancient history of the Mediterranean and Europe. Syracuse’s real attraction is the archaeological park, home to the pearly Greek theatre. Constructed in the 5th century BC and rebuilt in the 3rd century, the 16,000-capacity amphitheater staged the last tragedies of Aeschylus (including The Persians), first performed here in his presence. It serves as a model for the theaters across the Classical world where early Christians preached to their communities. Visit the Cathedral, Basilica, and catacombs dedicated to St. Lucy the patroness of this city. We’ll also visit the Ortigia, dotted with impressive church facades, outdoor restaurants, elegant piazzas, and surrounded by a crystalline sea. Continue to Catania for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, enjoy a city walking tour including the gorgeous cathedral of St. Agata of Catania a young Christian virgin from Catania who was martyred around the year 251 for refusing to renounce her faith and marry the Roman proconsul Quintianus. She is remembered for her courage and devotion and her relics are kept in a silver sarcophagus within the Cathedral of Sant’Agata. Explore the via Etnea and the via Crociferi, the very heart of baroque Catania. Dinner and overnight.

Today there will be an excursion day of Mt. Etna. Mt. Etna is Europe’s highest and among the most active volcanoes. It is a third Sicilian World Heritage Site. Eruptions and lava flows have created a very fertile agricultural region suited for viticulture and fruit plantations. In the afternoon we will visit a winery and enjoy some wine tasting with lunch. Continue to Taormina for dinner and overnight.

Taormina is spectacularly located on the terrace of Monte Tauro between the Ionian Sea and Mt. Etna. It started as a Greek settlement, then became a Roman colony, was destroyed and rebuilt by Arabs and next conquered by Normans. The town center remains well preserved as built in the 9th-century Byzantine style. Our morning walking tour along Corso Umberto from Porta Messina to Porta Catania will show its harmonious beauty. We will visit a fantastic Greek theater here, because it was rebuilt by the Romans and still serves as a concert venue. Dinner and overnight in Taormina.

This morning, we leave Taormina for Messina. With a history dating back to the 8th century B.C. Messina has been sacked, seized, or conquered by Carthaginians, Memertines, Goths, Arabs, Normans, and English to name a few, but their spirit was never defeated. In more recent times, the city was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 1908, which killed over 60,000 people and destroyed most of the ancient architecture. Visit Messina’s main street, the Via Garibaldi. You will see the Vittorio Emanuele Theater, the Town Hall, the church of Catalani, the Court, and the university. Continue to Pizzo and Sanctuary of St. Francis of Paola. Along the way we drive through forests of pine, oak, and beech and we can stop to take photos of the stunning coastal views.

We arrive at the Sanctuary of Paola, built in the 15th century by Saint Francis of Paola, the Patron Saint of Calabria. The Sanctuary holds some of the remains of the saint (the rest are found in Tours in France) and attracts pilgrims from all over the world. You will learn more about the history of St. Francis and the Sanctuary by following an easy self-guided walking itinerary. Continue to Cosenza for dinner and overnight.

This morning enjoy the visit of Cosenza, the city built upon seven hills on the valley of the river Crati. The old town center, better known as Cosenza vecchia, reflects the common building scheme of settlements upon a hill: small houses and buildings in contrast with big mansions castled on rocks, that overlook a web of steep and narrow lanes. The tour will start in Piazza dei Bruzi, the seat of the city hall, and will go through the San Domenico complex, with its homonymous church dating back to XV century. The complex is an extraordinary example of Gothic architecture with baroque superstructure. Crossing the Mario Martire bridge, we will observe the Crati and Busento rivers confluence. Visit the cathedral, which has been acknowledged as UNESCO heritage “witness to a culture of peace”. The visit will go on to Piazza XV Marzo, one of the most beautiful and important in the old town: surrounded by mansions and monuments, a visible sign of the city’s heritage and beauty. Continue along Italy’s stunning Amalfi Coast to Ravello. Stroll through the postcard-perfect streets of Amalfi, and make a stop at the town’s historic cathedral. Then, admire visits to Ravello’s famous hilltop villas. End the day in Sorrento for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, board your motor coach to Pompeii, the famous ancient city buried by the ashes of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. You will walk through one of the most important and interesting archeological museums in the world. This is a preserved site of excavated ruins of streets and homes that pilgrims can freely explore. Visit the Shrine of the Rosary of Pompei “La Madonna Del Rosario”, one of the most visited Catholic Shrines. The painting of “Our Lady of the Rosary” with its bronze gilt frame is presented to the pilgrims on the high altar. The venerated painting depicts the Virgin Mary and Child Jesus presenting the Rosary to Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena. Inside the shrine there are also two very important relics belonging to the Passion of Christ; a thorn from the Crown of Thorns and a small piece of the Holy Cross. Return to Sorrento for dinner and overnight.

Following breakfast board the bus to Mugnano del Cardinale for a visit of the Shrine of Saint Philomena. When her remains were brought to the village church at Mugnano from Rome, graces, favors and miracles began to occur among the village people. Miracles continued to occur year after year and in 1837, Philomena was elevated to Sainthood. 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.

Following breakfast transfer to Bari airport for your return flights 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.