Rome • Montecassino • San Giovanni Rotondo • Sorrento • Amalfi Coast • Catania • Taormina • Mount Etna
12 Days - Our prices include airfare from your hometown and exclusively 4 or 5 star hotels everywhere
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There are no trip dates scheduled at this time.
Trip Includes
- A Catholic priest will be with the group to celebrate daily Mass.
- Round-trip airfare from your hometown connecting in a major city to fly overseas is included. If your city has a direct flight to your destination, we will guarantee a direct flight as long as it is available.
- Airport Taxes, Security Fees, and Fuel Surcharges!
- Exclusively 4 or 5 star hotels in downtown areas.
- All breakfasts and all dinners. Wine is included with all dinners.
- Transportation with luxury bus.
- All entrance fees to all the sites.
- All tips to everyone involved in the tour.
- The tour fees for our guides. Our tour guides are well educated, caring, and professional. Most of them have their PhD's in Church history, archeology, philosophy, languages, or Theology.
- Luggage handling. Please pack light, one piece of luggage and one carry-on.
- Dress casually throughout the whole trip. Shoulders and knees should be covered when visiting Basilicas or churches.
- We limit our group to a maximum of 24 passengers, unless the priest on the trip requests a larger group. Small groups with a 5 star service in 4/5 star hotels.
- If you are traveling alone and you allow us to find you a roommate, you don't pay the $900 single supplement. If you wish to have your own room and you are not open to rooming with another passenger, then the single supplement fee is $900.
- Taxi and wheelchair can be provided gratis for those passengers who cannot walk, with prior notice at registration. A traveling companion has to push the wheelchair throughout the trip.
- At the time of registration, as a part of the total balance, a non-refundable $500 (hotel and airfare deposit) is due in the form of a credit card. For example, if your trip costs $3,700, when you sign up, you pay a $500 deposit, then your balance would be $3,200 and is due 4 months before departure date. If you sign up after the final payment due date or at the last minute, you pay the entire cost of the trip at registration.
Trip Does Not Include
- Lunch
- Insurance ~ The total trip cost is non-refundable, we recommend trip insurance to protect your investment.
Trip Itinerary
Day 1: Departure from USA.
Day 2: Arrival. Depending upon your arrival time, we may visit the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Wall where the body of St. Paul is buried. It is the 2nd largest basilica in Rome and the 5th in the world. Check in the hotel and rest for a few hours if time permits. In the afternoon, we will be visiting St. Mary Major, the main Basilica dedicated to Mary in Rome. We will see the remains of Jesus' manger, the tomb of Bernini, the remains of St. Matthew the Evangelist, the tomb of St. Jerome, and the oldest icon in the world of the Virgin Mary painted by St. Luke: the famous Salus Populi Romani. We may immerse ourselves in the local culture by attending an Italian mass at St. Mary Major as well. Casual dress. Dinner and overnight in Rome.
Day 3: We will have an early start as our private bus leaves around 7:00 am to the Vatican to experience the 10:00 am Audience with the Pope. We will see the Pope very closely; sometimes we even shake his hand. There will be time for lunch in the area of the Vatican, before we visit the Colosseum, the symbol of the city of Rome; a great building that has been standing since 80 A.D. Proceed to the Spanish Steps: this is the place where the Romans hung out. From there we will walk to Trevi Fountain, and have time for shopping. Followed by a walk to the Pantheon, the oldest functional building in the world, and then to the great artistic place of Piazza Navona around 4:30 pm. Dinner at Piazza Navona. Red and white wine included. Casual Dress throughout the day. Overnight in Rome.
Day 4: Start the day around 9:30 am, by visiting St. Peter's in the Vatican, the largest Basilica in the world; the Vatican Museums, and the Sistine Chapel (the Pope's private Chapel). Then visit St. John Lateran, the first Basilica ever to be built in the Roman Empire. In the afternoon, go to the breathtaking Catacombs where 500,000 people were buried. Long pants, capris, or skirts below the knee, shoulders covered. Time to rest before dinner in the area of the hotel. Red and white wine included. Overnight in Rome.
Day 5: Depart for Montecassino. Tour of Montecassino. Dinner and overnight in San Giovanni Rotondo.
Day 6: This morning we will tour San Giovanni Rotondo with visits to the old church, Santa Maria delle Grazie, the Friary of Padre Pio, his tomb, cell, confessional, and we end the morning with the new church, the Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church. After lunch we will visit the nearby Shrine of Monte Sant’Angelo, where St. Michael the Archangel appeared in 490, 492, and 1656. Dinner and overnight in San Giovanni Rotondo.
Day 7: Depart for the amazing Amalfi Coast and visit the incredible city of Positano, built on a cliff. Dinner and overnight in Pompeii.
Day 8: Tour of Pompeii and of Sorrento. Dinner and overnight in Pompeii.
Day 9: Fly to Catania. Check-in your hotel. In the afternoon visit Catania. Some sights to enjoy are the Piazza Duomo ~ Elephant Fountain, The Cathedral with the Chapel of Sant'Agata containing the saint's treasures. Walk the famous Via Crociferi where you can see some wonderful examples of 18th century Baroque buildings: Jesuits' Church, Church of San Giuliani and the Benedictine Monastery. Walk on the Via Etnea, an elegant street lined with Baroque-style buildings and shops that crosses the city from Piazza Duomo to Piazza Stesicoro where you can see the Vincenzo Bellini Monument, the imposing Roman Amphitheater, and the Church of Sant'Agata alla Fornace. Dinner and overnight in Catania, Sicily.
Day 10: Visit the incredible city of Taormina. It is considered by many the most beautiful city of Italy. Dinner and overnight in Catania.
Day 11: Visit the famous Mount Etna in the morning. Dinner and overnight in Catania.
Day 12: Private bus to Airport and departure from Catania back to USA.
Please note: We do our best to ensure that all sites listed in this itinerary will be seen. However, due to scheduling conflicts, or other circumstances beyond our control, sites may be visited on a different day than listed. Since we have several different trip configurations touring at the same time, it is likely that groups on different tours will be combined when their itineraries overlap in certain areas.