Pilgrimage to Italy

ANCIENT AND HOLY ITALY
An Orthodox Pilgrimage
October 14-27, 2012

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Day 1. Sunday, October 14, 2012
Group assembles in the airport and departs from the US.

Day 2. Monday, October 15, 2012
Meals: Dinner.
Group arrives to the airport in Milan, Italy. Transfer to the hotel for some refreshment. After couple hours of rest, tour of the city in the afternoon. Milan is the largest city in Northern Italy, and always was an important cultural and administrative center. It was here that Constantine issued the famous edict that granted freedom of religion to Christians. During our tour we will see the mighty Duomo, one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe. In the crypt under the Cathedral, we will see the remains of the Ancient Baptistry where St. Ambrose, saintly Bishop of Milan, baptized St. Augustine of Hippo. From here we will proceed to the Basilica of St. Ambrose, where his relics are resting amidst relics of Ancient Christian Martyrs Gervasius and Protasius. Overnight: Milan or area.

Day 3. Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner.
After Breakfast – exploration of the city continues and around lunch time, transfer to Venice. On the way we will stop in Padua, the historical city and renowned Christian center in Northern Italy, where in the Basilica of St. Justina the relics of St. Apostle and Evangelist Luke are laid to rest. From Padua we will transfer to the hotel in the historical part of Venice. Overnight: Venice

Day 4. Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Meals: Breakfast.
Today we will explore the city of Venice, a city with countless historical monuments, cultural attractions and Christian holy places. For many people, the city of Venice is associated with the canals, palaces, gondolas and gondoliers that are singing something mysteriously romantic. To an extent Venice is indeed that. But very few people realize that Venice had a mighty naval power at one time and that the Venetian Republic sponsored the conquest of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. Since then many of the Christian treasures from the Imperial City are still stored in numerous Cathedrals and churches of Venice. In the morning hours we will make a pilgrimage walk through several churches and will venerate relics of numerous saints, such as Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappodocia; Athanasius the Great and John the Almsgiver, Saintly Patriarchs of Alexandria; righteous Zachariah, father of St. John the Baptist; Holy Warrior and great martyr Theodore Stratelates; Venerable fathers Paul of Thebes and Kosmas of the desert; holy unmercenaries Cosmos and Damian of Arabia and many others.       
After a lunch break we will visit the most famous monuments of Venice. One of them is the Cathedral of St. Mark that in its glory and splendor is not any less beautiful than the most elaborate Cathedrals of Constantinople. Cathedral of St. Mark in addition to its breathtaking beauty is doubtlessly a holy place to any Orthodox as it is also a resting place of holy apostle and evangelist Mark and place of veneration of the miracle working icon of the Theotokos “Nicopea” (“The victory bearer”) that is attributed to the hand of the apostle Mark. After our visit to the Cathedral we will visit the palaces of the Dodges, where you will be able to enjoy the splendor of the interiors and to learn a lot of interesting facts about the history of the city. Overnight: Venice

Day 5. Thursday, October 18, 2012
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner.
Today we will visit several islands of the Venetian Lagoon. Our first stop will be at Murano that is famous from the medieval period due to its multiple glass factories. To us Murano is even more interesting because of the beautiful Basilica of St. Donatus of Evria that houses relics of that fourth century saint, along with the relics of Saint Gerard, the martyr and enlightener of Hungarians. After Murano, we will transfer to Torcello, a little island that is world famous for its 7th century basilica and splendid medieval mosaics. As so many other Venetian churches, Dormition Cathedral houses a number of relics, among them the remains of Saintly Bishop Heliodorus and female martyrs Fabra and Fabrata. Our last stop in the lagoon will be on the island of Burano, the resting place of holy martyrs Barbara, Alban, Dominic and Ursus. This small island is most famous for its lace factories. Here you will be given some free time for shopping and lunch. In the evening we will transfer to Ravenna. Overnight: Ravenna

Day 6. Friday, October 19, 2012
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner.
Ravenna is a very interesting historical town that in itself is a splendid page of the Byzantine History. For a short period of time, Ravenna was a capital of the Byzantine Empire in the West. In this small town, several Byzantine monuments from the period of Justinian survive like nowhere else. Basilicas of St. Appolinarius “in the Fields”, Cathedral of St. Vitale, mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the city Basilica of St. Appolinarius, Orthodox and Arian Baptisteries are doubtlessly among the gems of the Byzantine Art and Architecture. Even those people who saw the reproductions of the mosaics, will be conquered by their liveliness, colors, and simplicity of the pre-iconoclastic depictions and symbolism.  
After our visit in Ravenna we will transfer some hours south, to the “Eternal City”.
Overnight: Rome.

Day 6. Saturday, October 20, 2012
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner.
Our exploration of the City we will start at the famous Appian Way with its famous historical monuments. We also will stop to see the Catacombs and Basilica of St. Sebastian and one of the “Petrain” sites of Rome, church “Quo Vadis?” built on the place where according to tradition our Lord appeared to Peter who was fleeing persecution in Rome. From there we will continue to the mighty Basilica of St. Paul “Outside the Walls” that is built over the relics of the “Apostle of the Gentiles” and then onto another stop on a pilgrim way to the “Seven Churches in Rome”, the Basilica of St. Lawrence, deacon and great martyr of Rome. At the end of the day we will attend the Vigil at the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Catherine. Supper will be served at the hotel after the service. Overnight: Rome.

Day 7. Sunday, October 21, 2012
Meals: Breakfast.
After Divine Liturgy at the Russian Orthodox Church we will continue the exploration of the Sacred Christian Sites of Rome. We will visit Churches of
St. Maria Maggore Church, St. John Lateran Cathedral that is the cathedral of Rome, Santa Croce Church or Church of the Holy Cross, The Church of the Holy Stairs was built for one reason, to hold the stairs that Christ ascended to the Roman Praetorium in Jerusalem on the day of His judgment by Pontius Pilate.
Your evening will be at leisure…  
Possible extension (30 Euro per person, with min. of 10 participants):
… unless you feel like continuing for a little while and explore Rome by twilight. During optional tour you will be able to visit famous Spanish Steps, fountain of Trevi and some other romantic places in the heart of the Eternal City.
Overnight: Rome.

Day 8. Monday, October 22, 2012
Meals: Breakfast.
Today we will start our day with a visit to Vatican. Actually, Vatican itself is the smallest state in existence.  But it is more famous as the residence of the Pope of Rome, once the most important out of five keepers of the ancient Christian Patriarchal sees. The Complex of the Vatican Palaces and churches is built on the place of an early Christian cemetery where many Christian martyrs were buried.  St. Peter’s Basilica itself is a resting place of many Orthodox saints. There are no words to describe the glory and beauty of St. Peter’s Basilica, the collections of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. In the afternoon we will explore churches by Ancient Roman Forum. Churches of Sts. Cosmas and Damian and “St. Peter in Chains”, the church where the prison chains of the apostle are venerated, basilica of St. Sabina on the Aventine Hill and church of St. Clement are perhaps the most famous and most beautiful of them all. Overnight: Rome.

Day 9. Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Meals: Breakfast.
Today we will start with the exploration of the remnants of the city that gave Rome its title “Eternal”. We will see the largest amphitheater of Antiquity, the Coliseum, a circus that hosted up to 80,000 spectators, and yet even larger Circus Maximus, the horse race stadium, witness to the cheer of 250,000 Romans. We will see ancient Rome’s downtown, the Forum and Palatine Hill, with a splendid museum hosting countless articles from distant times.
In that ancient place we will also visit the place of Apostle Peter’s imprisonment – Mamertime Prison. Also, we’ll see one of the most ancient churches, named after St. Nicholas, which is built within the walls of ancient pagan temple and curious excavations in its basement. After visiting the “Mouth of Truth” at the vestibule of the Greek Uniate Church nearby, we will end our tour at the Pantheon, long time place of the panopticum of all Ancient Roman gods, and then a venerable Christian Church for centuries. Despite it rather humble appearance; the Pantheon is one of the most remarkable structures of Antiquity. Till the present day it has the widest dome anywhere in the World. Overnight: Rome.

Day 11. Wednesday, October 24, 2012
In the morning we will transfer to Naples.
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner.
After a brief sightseeing tour of the city, we will visit the Chapel were the relics of the first Bishop of Naples, St. Januarius that are housed in the Duomo (Cathedral). Adjacent to the Cathedral is an ancient Baptistery with some of the most ancient Christian Mosaics to be found anywhere. In the afternoon, we’ll visit the site of the ancient city of Pompeii where the ruins are absolutely splendid and even a full day won’t be enough to explore it all. We will have a tour of the most important sites and it is also recommended to visit the near-by villa of Mysteries, a private country estate with remarkably preserved art of the Roman Era that most often is over sighted by the visitors. Late in the afternoon we will transfer to the port city of Bari the resting place of the beloved Nicholas the Wonderworker, great Saint and Bishop of Myra in Lycia. Supper tonight will be provided at the hotel in Bari.

Day 12. Thursday, October 25, 2012
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner.
Today we will start our day with the Divine Liturgy in the city of St. Nicholas. The body of the saint is laid down in a crypt in the basilica of his name in Bari. Up until the present day countless miracles proceed from his body. We hope that local authorities will allow us to celebrate Liturgy on that Holy Place. If for some bureaucratic reason that won’t be possible, we will have a Liturgy or a prayer service in the local Russian Orthodox Church and we’ll prayerfully venerate the remains of the saint in his basilica. In the afternoon, we’ll head toward the Village of Alberabello, famous for its unique cone type architecture known as trulli. That architectural style was typical for that area for thousands of years, and remains practically unchanged till the present day. Overnight: Salerno/area.

Day 13. Friday, October 26, 2012
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner.
This morning we’ll visit the city of Salerno and visit the Duomo – Cathedral that hosts the relics of the apostle and evangelist Matthew. Time permitting, we will make a ferry ride to the picturesque town of Amalfi, to venerate the relics of St. Apostle Andrew the First Called. His relics were taken away from Greece in order to prevent their desecration by the invaders. Recently, part of his skull was return to the original resting place in Greek city of Patras where magnificent Cathedral was built to enshrine the holy remains of the Apostle. Later in the afternoon we will transfer to Rome/area (or will remain in Salerno area based on the time of the return flight departure) for Dinner and overnight.  

Day 14. Saturday, October 27, 2011
This morning we’ll transfer from to the airport for departure back home. Our pilgrimage is over till next time.