Evening flight from Chicago to Florence, Italy.

Evening arrival in Florence, the exquisite birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. Check in at Hotel Paris in the historic center for two nights. 

Travel into the Tuscan hills above Florence to the Institute of Christ the Kings’ International Seminary of St. Philip Neri in Gricigliano, located in an ancient 15th-century villa. Attend a Solemn Mass officiated by Msgr. Wach and sung by seminarians, foll-owed by lunch and a tour. Mid-after-noon return to Florence for a walking tour of the medieval center with a visit to the Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore), an artistic jewel of the 15th Century.

Check out and visit of San Marco, a former monastic complex with his-tory dating back to the 13th Century; best known as the home of two great Dominicans of the 15th Century- the Renaissance painter Fra Angelico, and the monastery’s prior, Savanarola. Next visit the venerated Marian shrine of Santissima Annunziata, famous for a miraculous fresco of the Annunciation (said to have been painted by an angel). Late morning departure from Florence for the char-ming Umbrian hilltown of Assisi, birthplace of the Franciscan order.  Mid-afternoon arrival in Upper Town Assisi for a walking tour flanked by two churches, one dedicated to St. Clare, and the other, to St. Francis. First visit Santa Chiara, wherein is the tomb of St. Clare, as well as the crucifix from which Our Lord im-plored Francis to rebuild the Church. Our last stop will be at San Francesco (tomb of St. Francis). Check into our hotel in Lower Assisi (1 night).

Check-out and visit Our Lady of the Angels in Lower Town Assisi, built over the Transito where St. Francis died 800 years ago. Also see the Portiuncula chapel that he restored, which became the first Franciscan dwelling. In this Jubilee Year of Grace, faithful are granted a Plenary Indulgence for visiting a Franciscan site. On to the Marian city of Loreto to visit the Holy House Basilica. During the Ottoman Siege of the Holy Land in 1291 AD., when holy sites were under threat, angels intervened to protect the home of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Nazareth,  by carrying it across the Adriatic to Loreto, where it remains intact today.

Check out and depart for Gargano Promontory (bootspur of Italy), driving along the Adriatic. Stop at Manoppello (Sudarium of Christ) & Lanciano (8th Century Eucharistic Miracle). Evening arrival in San Giovanni Rotondo (2 nights).

Morning in the town of the great Capuchin friar,  Padre Pio, lived for over fifty years until his death in 1968. Visit the Friary/Church of Our Lady of Graces (where he offered Mass and heard confessions) and the new church. Enjoy an excursion to Mont Sant’Angelo (5th Century apparition).

Depart for Mugnano del Cardinale to visit the church where the remains of St. Philomena (3rd Century virgin-martyr) have been kept since 1805).  Next, travel to Naples to visit Gesù Nuovo (tomb of St. Giuseppe Mos-cati), and then walk the famous Spaccanapoli pedestrian way to the Duomo, where the yearly blood miracle of San Gennaro occurs. Two nights at a hotel in the Naples Province. 

A day on the stunning Amalfi Coast! Visit Our Lady of the Rosary Sanctuary in Pompeii, founded by  St. Bartolo Longo (1841- 1926), a former occultist who reverted to Catholicism and became an ardent devotee of Our Lady. Drive along the Gulf of Salerno to Amalfi (tomb of St. Andrew the Apostle, martyr).

Check-out and drive to St. Thomas Aquinas House in Naples, the novitiate of the Sister Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus Christ Sovereign Priest, for Holy Mass, a tour and festive lunch. Drive to Ostia for our last evening close to the airport. 

Transfer to Rome airport.  Airport for our flight to the USA.

Join Canon Rafael Ueda, ICKSP, to celebrate the 109th Fatima  anniversary and visit subsequent apparition sights in Galicia, Spain! Travel to the seaside resort of Nazare, the Eucharistic Miracle city of Santarem, Braga (Bom Jesus Shrine & home of Blessed Alexandrina) and Lisbon, the city of St. Anthony’s birth; all attesting to ages of Faith in the land God chose to host the wondrous events between  His Mother and mankind.