DAY 1: Monday 20th May
Early departure from Dublin airport on our Aer Lingus flight to Naples. You will be met by our Joe Walsh tours pilgrimage co-ordinator and transferred by private coach to San Giovanni Rotondo.
After checking in to the hotel, we will have lunch at the Centro di Spiritualita’ Padre Pio where we will stay for four nights with all meals included each day. Mass and dinner.
DAY 2: Tuesday 21st May
Today we will spend the whole day in San Giovanni. We will have mass at 09:15 and visit the Capuchin Friary, the cell where Saint Pio lived and died, the crucifix before which he received the stigmata.
We will have lunch at the hotel before continuing our day visiting the old and new churches and the tomb of St. Pio. We will also visit the English Office, where we will hear about his extraordinary life.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
DAY 3: Wednesday 22nd May
This morning we travel to the nearby town of San Marco in Lamis with its beautiful market and visit St. Matthew’s monastery. After lunch we continue to Monte Sant Angelo, the shrine in the cave where the Archangel Michael appeared in the fifth century. A long list of Saints and Popes have visited this cave to pray to the Archangel, among them St. Francis of Assisi, St Pio and St John Paul II.
Mass and return to hotel for dinner and overnight.
DAY 4: Thursday 23rd May
After breakfast today we will have another full day in San Giovanni. We visit the Way of the Cross and part of the Hospital ‘Casa Sollievo della sofferenza’. The hospital, also known as “Home for Relief of the Suffering”, now welcomes many patients, being one of the best health care centres in Italy. Free afternoon and personal prayer time
DAY 5 Friday 24th May
Today after breakfast and check out we will be transferred by private coach to Benevento. On the way we will stop in Pietrelcina, the birthplace of Saint Pio, where we will have mass and lunch (own expenses) before continuing to the newly refurbished Antum Hotel for our last night.
DAY 6: Saturday 25th May
Today is our last day, after breakfast and check out from the hotel we will be picked up to go to the airport for our way back to Dublin. We hope you enjoyed your pilgrimage to Italy with us.
