DAY 1: BENEVENTO
Depart Dublin Airport. Joe Walsh tours representative will meet you on arrival in Naples. Coach transfer to Benevento where we will check into the Grand Hotel Italiano right on time for dinner. Free time to visit Benevento after dinner. Overnight in hotel.
DAY 2: BENEVENTO TO SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO
This morning, after breakfast and check out we will visit Piana Romana and Pietrelcina, the birthplace of Saint Pio. We visit St. Pio’s family home and the church of St. Anna where Padre Pio was baptised and received his First Holy Communion. We then continue to San Giovanni Rotondo where we stay in the Centro di Spiritualita hotel for three nights with breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day. Check in the hotel. Mass, dinner and overnight.
DAY 3: SAN MARCO IN LAMIS, ST MATTHEW'S MONASTERY AND MONTE SANT ANGELO
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 then 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: SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO
Today we spend the full day in San Giovanni Rotondo. After the morning mass we will visit to the English office where we hear about the extraordinary life of Padre Pio and the Capuchin Friary, the cell where Saint Pio lived and died and the crucifix before which he received the stigmata.
DAY 5: SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO TO ALBA ADRIATICA, LANCIANO AND MANOPPELLO
After breakfast and check out from the Centro di Spiritualita’, we will be traveling to Alba Adriatica. On our way we will visit the small town of Lanciano, near the Adriatic Coast. Another wonderful place of pilgrimage, as this shrine is the location of the first and greatest Eucharistic Miracle of the Catholic Church.
Pilgrims have travelled to the Sanctuary in Lanciano since then to see the miracle, which is kept in a silver and glass reliquary. We will also be visiting the Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppello, preserved in a church part of a monastery belonging to Capuchin friars.
After a long day, we will check in the Hotel Meripol where we will be spending the next 3 nights.
DAY 6: ASSISI & BLESSED CARLO ACUTIS
Today we will visit Assisi. This is an unmissable pilgrimage destination in Italy, a beautiful city-sanctuary on the slopes of Mount Subasio in the region of Umbria. Pilgrims have been visiting Assisi for hundreds of years to honour the life, work and message of Saint Francis and his disciple Saint Claire.
There are many exquisite historic buildings and shrines to visit in this extraordinary historic town, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We will celebrate mass in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, also known as Sanctuary of the Spoliation, where Blessed Carlo Acutis is buried. Then, back to the hotel for dinner and overnight.
DAY 7: LORETO
After breakfast we will travel to Loreto. Located in the Marche region of central Italy and close to the Adriatic Coast, Loreto is a special place for Catholic pilgrimage as it is home to the Shrine of the Holy House of the Virgin Mary, located in the Basilica della Casa Santa. This Late Gothic and Renaissance-style Basilica was built between 1469 to 1587 and according to research, it contains three sides of the house in Nazareth where Mary was born and lived during the time she received the Annunciation from the Archangel Gabriel. After visiting Loreto, we will have free time and back to the hotel for dinner and overnight
DAY 8: ST GABRIEL SHRINE
After breakfast and check out from the hotel, we will get ready for our way to Rome. Before our evening flight back we will have the change to visit the famous St. Gabriel Shrine. Saint Gabriel Shrine is one of the most attended places of worship in Italy. Its early origin dates to the thirteenth century, when St. Francis of Assisi, passing through the area after participating in the IV Lateran Council (1215), established a community of his friars. Next to the monastery a church was built, which until today is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
Our flight back will depart to Dublin after a wonderful pilgrima in Italy.
