Make your way to your local airport, where you will board your overnight flight(s). Your 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 arrival 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, your group will meet in the hotel lobby for a meet and greet with fellow pilgrims and your Priest. Together depart for Mass. Following Mass, you will attend a Welcome Dinner. After dinner, you will have the opportunity to join in a walk to St. Peter’s Square for the Rosary (optional).

After breakfast, we will attend the Papal Audience in St. Peter’s Square or at the Audience Hall. The Audience is celebrated each Wednesday by His Holiness, Pope Francis (pending the papal schedule). We continue the day by touring St. Peter’s Basilica, which was built on the site where St. Peter the Apostle was martyred. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to walk through the Holy Door, and then view Michelangelo’s Pieta sculpture, and pray at the tombs of Pope Benedict XVI Emeritus and St. John Paul II.

After breakfast 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. You will be able to walk through the Holy Doors, and then have some time on your own before we gather in the evening for dinner and overnight in Rome.

After breakfast, we will 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. We will be able to walk through the Holy Doors before crossing the street to the very steps that lead up to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem which Jesus climbed on His way to trial during his Passion. The day will conclude with a visit to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, dedicated to Our Blessed Mother. This Basilica contains a relic from the manger of the infant Jesus. You will also walk through its Holy Door, and then have some time on your own before we gather in the evening for dinner and overnight in Rome.

After breakfast walking tour in the historical center of Rome to visit the Pantheon, Colosseum, and Roman Forum.

Following breakfast, transfer from Rome to Assisi. the hometown of St. Francis. Throughout this bus ride, your tour escort will share interesting information on the spiritual, historical, and cultural aspects of Italy. On the way to Assisi, we will stop in Orvieto, where a Eucharistic Miracle is preserved in the Cathedral of Orvieto. In 1263, a priest stopped to celebrate Mass at Saint Christina’s Church in Bolsena. Having doubts that the Eucharist was the Body and Blood of Christ, the Priest was shocked when the host began to bleed right after the prayer of consecration. Unable to hide this fact, he interrupted the Mass and went to Orvieto where Pope Urban IV was in residence. The Pope ordered the miraculous host and linen altar cloth stained with blood to be brought to Orvieto and placed on display, where it still rests today. The Cathedral also has some of the most magnificent frescoes found anywhere. The depicting visions of heaven and hell in the San Brizio Chapel rival those of the Sistine Chapel. We will continue to Assisi where you will check in to your hotel, and relax or explore before enjoying dinner. Retire to your room for a restful night’s sleep.

Start the day with breakfast at the hotel, then visit the birthplace of St. Francis. You will become captivated as the atmosphere has not changed since St. Francis began his ministry, in the early 13th century. You will start your tour at the St. Francis Basilica, walk through the Holy Door, and then visit the tomb of St. Francis, and view a series of frescoes depicting his life, with a few of the Saint’s possessions. Followed by a visit to the Santuario Della Spogliazione where Blessed Carlo Acutis’ tomb is placed. Carlo is the first millennial to be declared Blessed who loved the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. From there, you will continue a walking tour through this picturesque town, including the birthplace of St. Francis, and end with a tour of the Church that honors St. Clare, the foundress of the Poor Clare Sisters. This Saint followed the teachings of St. Francis very closely by also living a life of poverty and humility. Then, we will board the bus, which will take you outside of the walls of Assisi, to the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels. This is where St. Francis spent most of life. Visit the beautiful Rose Garden where St. Francis and other friars lived, as well as the cave where the Saint retired to pray. Return to your Hotel with some free time on your own – you may take this time for additional prayer, shop in the many gift shops, or enjoy a nice lunch – and then gather at the Hotel for dinner and overnight.

After an early morning wake up, with heartfelt farewells, your group will leave by motor coach and transfer to Rome Fiumicino airport for 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.