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 arrival at Rome airport, collect your luggage in the baggage claim area, and continue to the arrivals’ hall, where you will be greeted by a tour escort and/or driver. You will make your way to the bus and transfer to your hotel. Following check-in, you will have free time to unpack and relax before the opening Mass and a mini-sacred music workshop. Dinner and Overnight in Rome.

This morning 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, The Pope (pending the papal schedule). We will spend the rest of the day at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, where we will have a tour and a sacred music workshop. In the evening, Vespers and dinner before overnight in Rome.

After Lauds and breakfast, we will tour St. Peter’s Basilica and Santa Cecelia in Trastevere. After lunch, continue down the Appian Way, one of the earliest roads built in ancient Rome to the Catacombs. In the evening, we will enjoy a concert of sacred music. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

After lauds and 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. Cross 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. Holy Mass will be celebrated by our priest at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, dedicated to Our Blessed Mother. This Basilica contains a relic from the manger of the infant Jesus. After lunch, we will have a sacred music workshop followed by a visit to Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, we will depart Rome and ride through the beautiful Umbrian mountains to Orvieto. This incredible town sits on a volcanic high rock formation. Here we visit one of the most beautiful and most renowned Cathedrals in Italy. Because of its strategic location, it’s Christian history officially started in 1004, but Orvieto was built over preexisting Etruscan era cave tunnels dating back 2,500 years, which some historians believe Christians used to celebrate Mass when Christianity was forbidden. We will return to Assisi for a concert, dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, tour of the Basilica of St. Francis, where you will see the tomb of St. Francis, and have the opportunity to view a series of frescoes depicting his life, along with a few of the saint’s possessions. Next you will visit the Santuario Della Spogliazione where Blessed Carlo Acutis’ tomb is, the first millennial to be declared Blessed as well as the Basilica of Santa Chiara. Next, we will have our sacred music workshop. After lunch, board the bus, which will take you outside of the walls of Assisi, to the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels. This Basilica is made up of two structures, both of which you will visit. The first structure is the “Porziuncola” and the second is the “Capella del Transito” which is the place where St. Francis died. Return to the hotel for dinner and a restful overnight.

After breakfast, enjoy a scenic drive to the Tuscan city of Siena. This medieval city is the birthplace of St. Catherine, “Doctor of the Church”, and the Apostle of Italy, St. Bernardine. Visit the Basilica of St. Catherine, which is also known as the Basilica of St. Domenico. St. Catherine spent much of her life inside the walls of this Basilica. Here you will be able to view the incorrupt head of St. Catherine. After, we will visit the Shrine of St. Catherine, which occupies the site of her family home. Enjoy our walking tour through Siena, which includes a visit to its Cathedral (Duomo di Siena). We will conclude at one of Italy’s finest squares, the Piazza Del Campo. We will have a final sacred music concert before Dinner and overnight.

After breakfast we will depart for the Florence Airport. Departure flights. Return back with the best memories.

*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.