A Pilgrimage
to Italy

Pilgrims gather at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) and check in for Air Canada 1730 to Montréal, departing at 9:00 AM, connecting to Air Canada 892 for the overnight transatlantic flight to Rome. Full schedule details are in the Group Flight Information section of this page.

Morning arrival at Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO), where your ProRome Tour Manager meets the group and transfers you by private motorcoach to your religious guesthouse near the Vatican. The afternoon opens with a walking tour of Ancient Rome, the best way to keep the group on Rome time after the overnight flight, and a fitting entry into the pilgrimage. We visit the Colosseum, sanctified by the blood of thousands of Christian martyrs whose witness became the seed of the Church; the Roman Forum and the Arch of Constantine, commemorating the emperor whose Edict of Milan ended the persecutions; and the Mamertine Prison, where Saints Peter and Paul were held before their martyrdom. Welcome dinner together as a group.

Breakfast at the guesthouse. We walk to the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, the Cathedral of Rome and “Mother and Head of all the Churches of the City and of the World,” to venerate the relics of Saints Peter and Paul. Next is Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, built by St. Helena to house relics from the Holy Land: fragments of the True Cross, the Titulus Crucis, two thorns from the Crown of Thorns, a nail from the Crucifixion, and the finger of Doubting Thomas. We finish the morning at the Scala Santa, the marble stairs from Pilate’s praetorium, traditionally climbed on the knees. Lunch on your own. The afternoon is a walking pilgrimage through the Centro Storico, the heart of Baroque Rome: Piazza Navona and the site of St. Agnes’s martyrdom, the Pantheon, San Luigi dei Francesi with Caravaggio’s St. Matthew cycle, and Sant’Agostino, with Caravaggio’s Madonna of Loreto and the tomb of St. Monica. As time permits, the Gesù and Sant’Ignazio. Group dinner.

Breakfast at the guesthouse. We depart for Tre Fontane, the site of St. Paul’s martyrdom, where tradition holds that his severed head struck the ground three times and a spring arose at each point. From there to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls for Mass and a guided tour, one of the four great papal basilicas, built directly over the tomb of the Apostle to the Gentiles, with the great mosaic frieze bearing a portrait of every pope. Lunch on your own. In the afternoon we descend into the Catacombs of San Sebastiano along the Via Appia Antica, the site that gave the world the word “catacomb.” We end at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, home to the Salus Populi Romani icon, the relic of the Holy Crib, and the tombs of St. Pius V and Bernini. Group dinner in Trastevere.

Early breakfast at the guesthouse. We make our way to St. Peter’s Square for the Papal Wednesday General Audience, one of the singular graces of a Rome pilgrimage, where the Holy Father delivers his catechesis and imparts the Apostolic Blessing. Lunch on your own near the Vatican. The afternoon brings the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel with a professional Catholic guide: the Raphael Rooms with The School of Athens, the Gallery of Maps, and the Sistine Chapel, with Michelangelo’s ceiling and The Last Judgment. Group dinner.

Breakfast at the guesthouse. We depart Rome by private motorcoach for Castel Gandolfo, the historic summer residence of the Popes set in the Alban Hills about forty-five minutes south of the city. The day centers on a hands-on Italian cooking class with a local chef: fresh pasta made from scratch, a primo and secondo from local seasonal ingredients, and a classic dolce, which the group enjoys together as lunch. In the afternoon we explore the town and its piazza, with views over Lake Albano, the volcanic crater lake that has drawn popes and pilgrims since the 17th century, and free time for shopping. Return to Rome in the early evening; dinner on your own.

Breakfast at the guesthouse. The morning is given to St. Peter’s: Mass at a side altar in the basilica, followed by a guided tour of Michelangelo’s Pietà, Bernini’s Baldacchino over the Confession, and the Papal Tombs in the Vatican Grottoes, with an optional ascent to the Cupola for panoramic views. Lunch on your own in the Borgo. The afternoon offers an optional walking tour through Trastevere: Santa Maria in Trastevere, Santa Cecilia, San Crisogono, and Tiber Island. Group dinner.

Breakfast and check-out from the Rome guesthouse. We board the private motorcoach and head north into Umbria. Our first stop is the medieval hilltop town of Orvieto, where we celebrate Mass at the Duomo, one of the supreme Gothic cathedrals of Italy, and venerate the corporal of the Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena (1263), the bloodstained altar cloth that moved Pope Urban IV to institute the Feast of Corpus Christi. We view Luca Signorelli’s Last Judgment frescoes in the San Brizio Chapel, which Michelangelo studied before painting the Sistine Chapel. Lunch on your own in Orvieto. We continue to Assisi, arriving mid-afternoon, and check in at a religious guesthouse in the historic centro storico. Group dinner in Assisi.

Breakfast at the guesthouse. We celebrate Mass and tour the Basilica of San Francesco, the great mother church of the Franciscan world. We descend to the crypt to venerate the tomb of St. Francis, then visit the Lower Church, with frescoes by Cimabue and Giotto, and the Upper Church, home to Giotto’s monumental 28-panel cycle of the life of St. Francis. We walk to the Basilica of Santa Chiara to venerate the tomb of St. Clare and reverence the San Damiano Crucifix, the very cross that spoke to Francis: “Rebuild my Church, which as you can see is falling into ruin.” Lunch on your own. In the afternoon we descend to the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where the Porziuncola is enshrined, the tiny chapel St. Francis rebuilt with his own hands, where he founded the Franciscan Order and died on October 3, 1226. Free time before a group dinner in Assisi.

Breakfast at the guesthouse. This morning we climb the slopes of Mount Subasio to the Eremo delle Carceri, the forest hermitage of caves and grottos where St. Francis and his earliest companions withdrew for solitude and prayer, one of the most evocative and spiritually charged sites in all of Franciscan Assisi, and one that very few pilgrims reach. In the afternoon we visit San Damiano, the hermitage below the city walls where St. Francis composed the Canticle of the Creatures and St. Clare lived in enclosure. The remaining afternoon is at leisure in the medieval streets of Assisi for personal prayer and reflection. Group farewell dinner in Assisi.

Early breakfast and check-out from the Assisi guesthouse. The group departs early for the flight back to the States: private motorcoach transfer to Rome Fiumicino Airport, approximately 2.5 hours south, for Air Canada 893 to Montréal and Air Canada 1731 home to Phoenix.