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Italy Pilgrimage with Fr Shoury October 2025

Italy Pilgrimage to Rome – Great Shrines of Italy

October 20-29, 2025

Fr. shoury

Itinerary Italy Pilgrimage to Rome – Great Shrines of Italy

On this Shrines of Italy Pilgrimage see Rome · Vatican · Monte Cassino Abbey · Padre Pio · Monte Sant’Angelo · Lanciano · Loreto · Holy Face in Manoppello – Assisi

Day 1 New Orleans – Rome

Depart from your local airport for Rome. Dinner and breakfast are served on your overnight flight.

Day 2 Arrival in Rome

Upon arrival, you will meet your Tour Escort who will escort you to your private motorcoach. This morning you will enjoy a Panoramic Tour which will include a stop at the magnificent Colosseum. In 1744, Pope Benedict XIV issued an edict prohibiting the desecration of the monument and, for the 1750 Jubilee, he consecrated the arena to the memory of the Passion of Christ and the Christian martyrs, commissioning the 14 shrines of the Stations of the Cross along the arena’s perimeter.  Continue to your First-Class Hotel. There will be time to freshen up before gathering for dinner. Overnight in Rome.

Day 3 Rome – Papal Audience at the Vatican if the Pope is in residence – St. Peter’s Basilica – Vatican Museums – Sistine Chapel

Today is truly a day that will be in your minds for many years to come. This morning you will go to Vatican City to attend the weekly Papal Audience and Blessing given by His Holiness Pope Francis I. Following the audience, visit to the Vatican Museums, a group of the most impressive galleries filled with art treasures. See awe-inspiring relics and works of art donated throughout centuries as tributes of faith. Throughout the tour, you will cover The Tapestry Gallery, The Raphael Rooms, and the overwhelming Sistine Chapel, showcasing Michelangelo’s Masterpiece, the restored mural of the Last Judgment. Later, enter the largest church in Christendom St Peter’s Basilica, built on the site where St Peter was martyred. Unsurpassed in beauty, a monument to the long history of the Catholic Church, to which pilgrims come from around the world, St Peter’s is the grandest of the world’s churches. Marvel at the Pieta and Bernini’s amazing bronze canopy. Before dinner, we’ll have some time at leisure, to explore your own paths, to shop, or just to sit in one of the outside cafes and watch the world go by.

Day 4 Rome – 3 Major Basilicas – Catacombs

This morning you will enjoy a special Scavi Tour, a 1.5-hour guided excursion through St Peter’s underground Necropolis, the ancient underground cemetery that houses St Peter’s tomb. Afterward, you will visit the other three Major Basilicas of Rome starting with St Mary Major, one of the oldest shrines dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, a shrine that contains a relic from the manger of the infant Jesus. The Basilica of St John in Lateran is the Cathedral of Rome and was the former residence of the popes before their return to Rome in 1377. Across the street from the Basilica, you will have the chance to see and climb “the Holy Stairs” which are the actual steps Jesus climbed on the night he was sentenced to be crucified in the house of Pontius Pilate. On the outskirts of the city, you will visit St Paul Outside the Walls, which houses the remains of St Paul under its main altar. You will also see the ancient Baths of Caracalla, Arch of Drusus, Chapel “O’Domine Quo Vadis?” the remains of imperial tombs, Tomb of Caecilia Metella, and the catacombs of St Callixtus where the early Christians hid themselves to escape persecution. Dinner and overnight for your last evening in Rome.

Day 5 Rome – Monte Cassino – San Giovanni Rotondo

Leave the Eternal City, head southeast, and enjoy the scenic route to San Giovanni. You will stop in Monte Cassino to see the Benedictine Abbey founded by St Benedict in 529. This lovely Abbey sits atop a hill overlooking the village of Cassino.   The abbey was founded by Saint Benedict of Norcia in the 6th century and is set high atop a mountain. Saint Benedict established his first monastic community here. The abbey has been destroyed four times, most recently in World War II, but still serves as home to the Benedictines. Arrive in San Giovanni, the home of Padre Pio, just in time for dinner and overnight.

Day 6 Monte Sant’Angelo

Today you will Visit the tomb of Padre Pio, tour the sanctuary, and see the crucifix from which he received the stigmata in 1918. You will see the confessional where Padre Pio spent innumerable hours with a multitude of pilgrims, directing them on their journey toward God.

Enjoy a breathtaking view of the Gargano Peninsula and a visit to the Grotto of Michael the Archangel. Six different popes, St Francis, and at least four other saints have knelt in prayer at this grotto, seeking the protection of St Michael. A panoramic view of the ocean and the surrounding countryside awaits you at this most celebrated shrine of early Christianity, a shrine consecrated by St Michael himself in 490. Return to San Giovanni for devotion, and reflection, dinner, and overnight.

Day 7 Lanciano – Loreto – Manoppello – Assisi

The travels today first take you to Lanciano to see the eighth-century Eucharistic Miracle in the little Church of Lagontial. After expressing doubts about Christ’s true presence in the consecrated host, a monk found himself holding a host that had changed into flesh and wine that had changed into blood. Next, travel through the beautiful Italian Countryside to the historic town of Manoppello. Here you will celebrate Mass at the old Capuchin Monastery and see a miraculous image of Christ’s face on a veil, the “veronica” (true icon) in the Santuario del Volto Santo. The image shows a male face with long hair and a beard parted in bands. It is the only case in the world where the image is visible on both sides of the cloth; colors are very light, the eyes are turned upward and the pupils are completely open, even though irregular. Scientific tests, and observations under ultraviolet light and a microscope show no pigments and no paintings on the veil.

After lunch, travel to the lush Adriatic coast to the great Marian shrine of Loreto to visit the Holy House of Nazareth and the beautiful Madonna of Loreto. More than 50 popes made a pilgrimage to the house transported by angels to this hill in central Italy in 1294. Tradition has it that this is the house in which Mary prayed the Magnificat, in which Jesus grew to manhood, and in which the Holy Family lived. Transfer for dinner and overnight in Assisi.

Day 8 Assisi – Saints Francis and Clare

After breakfast, celebrate mass and visit the tomb of St Francis. Explore the quaint hilltop birthplace of St Francis that still retains something of the atmosphere of the early 1200s, the period when St Francis began his ministry. Contained within the huge 13th-century Basilica are many of his possessions and a series of frescoes depicting his life. You may kneel before the crucifix from which Jesus spoke to St Francis, asking him to rebuild His church. It was in St Mary of the Angels Basilica where St Francis spent most of his life. Here we visit the Chapel, Portiuncola, the rose bush, and the cave where the saint retired for prayer. Stroll the medieval streets of the compact little town. After stopping at an outdoor cafe with a view of an ancient Roman temple, we go to the Church of St Clare to see the saint’s incorrupt body. The foundress of the Order of Poor Clares followed the teachings of St Francis by living a life of poverty and humility. Return to Assisi for dinner and overnight.

Day 9 Return Home 

Early departure from Rome Airport and your return flight(s) home.

Sale!  Save $300! Regular price $5,995.

$5,695 Book Here $4,795 land only

For additional tour information including pictures, FAQ, MapItaly Pilgrimage to Rome – Great Shrines of Italy

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