0601AA5 - Holy Year Italy Pilgrimage 10 days from Tampa


Trip Flyer
Airline Name Baggage Information
American Airlines http://bit.ly/zRWIZO

$50 Early Booking Discount if Reserved by December 16, 2024

Special Package with this Trip :
International departure taxes of $129 plus current fuel surcharges of $600 are included (subject to change).

Tour Code Departure Date Cost per person
AA0601GS 06/01/2025 $5499.00
Trip Details

Today we depart Tampa International airport to connect with our overnight flight to Rome aboard a wide-bodied jet. We enjoy in-flight movies, dinner and breakfast aloft.
We arrive in Rome this morning where we have a walking tour of the Roman Fora, the Arch of Constantine, and the Flavian Amphitheater, more commonly known as “the Coliseum”. We conclude our day at one of the Catacombs, burial place of early Christians. We celebrate Mass while there and view the 2nd and 3rd century fresco paintings. We continue to our hotel for our “welcome” dinner and overnight.
Following morning Mass at St. Peter's, we spend this morning seeing the treasures of the Vatican Museum (pending ticket availability). We marvel at Michelangelo's restored frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. We continue to St. Peter's Basilica to view the “Pieta.” This afternoon we visit St. Mary Major, also known as Our Lady of the Snows in memory of a Marian miracle in 352AD, where it snowed in August marking the spot to build the basilica. This evening, we enjoy dinner on our own at a nearby restaurant and overnight at our hotel.
This morning, we make our way to St. Peter's for an audience with Pope Francis if he is in residence. After lunch on our own we visit St. John Lateran and Holy Stairs. We proceed to St. Paul’s Beyond the Walls. This huge, imposing Basilica, second only to St. Peter’s and one of the largest churches in the Christian world, contains an unusual gallery of papal portraits: 265 tablets portraying the popes of the past. We celebrate Mass while there and return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.
Following an early morning departure from Rome, we travel north through the Umbrian countryside. We stop at Orvieto for a visit and Mass at the breathtaking Cathedral, which is known as the jewel of Italian architecture. Inside the Cathedral is the Chapel of the Corporal, which houses the chalice cloth involved in the Eucharistic Miracle, which occurred in nearby Bolsena. In the 13th century a pilgrim priest named Peter of Prague was celebrating Mass at the crypt of St. Christina. He was having a faith crisis concerning the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and while speaking the words of the consecration, blood started to drip from the consecrated Host. Subsequently Pope Urban instituted The Feast of Corpus Christi. Afterwards we continue to Assisi. Our first stop is in the lower town for a visit to the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, and the Portiuncula, Francis' Church of the Little Portion. We then proceed to the hilltop village of Assisi for dinner and overnight at our hotel.
This morning, we begin with a short walk to the Basilica of St. Francesco for Mass. After our visit of the Basilica and the tomb of St. Francis, we begin our walking tour of the village with a visit to the Church of St. Clare “the little plant of Blessed Francis” as she loved to call herself, where we view the San Damiano crucifix that spoke to St. Francis. Kneeling before it, Francis composed the following prayer, which is among the oldest of his writings: “All Highest, Glorious God, cast your light into the darkness of my heart. Give me the right faith, firm hope, perfect charity, and profound humility, with wisdom and perception, O Lord, so that I may do what is truly your most holy will. Amen.” This afternoon, our taxis take us up to the Hermitage of the Carceri, where Francis and his Friars retreated from the world to pray and fast. Here the grotto of St. Francis can also be seen. We return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.
Today, we drive east towards Ancona and visit and celebrate Mass at Loreto, the site of the “Santa Casa” or Holy House. Ancient tradition tells us angels carried the house of the Holy Family from Nazareth to Loreto as it was about to be destroyed by Holy Land invaders. After our visit, we continue southwards via the coastal highway to the Montesilvano Pescara area for dinner and overnight at our hotel on the shores of the Adriatic Sea.
This morning, we visit and pray at Lanciano, the site of the oldest Eucharistic Miracle certified by the Church. After almost eight centuries the Body and the Blood still maintain all the characteristics of fresh human material. We continue south to San Giovanni Rotondo where we celebrate Mass at the tomb of Saint Padre Pio and visit the sanctuary. We transfer to our hotel for dinner and overnight.
We depart late in the morning for Subiaco. It was here that Saint Benedict and his sister Scholastica retired at the end of the 5th Century and built five little monasteries. We visit the Monastery of St. Benedict, which dates from the 13th and 14th centuries. We visit the Sacred Cave where Benedict lived as a hermit for three years. The staircase holds the earliest portrait of St. Francis without his halo or stigmata. We celebrate Mass while there and then continue to Rome for our “farewell” dinner and overnight at our hotel.
This morning we transfer to the airport for our flight to the U.S. arriving the same day.