Pilgrimage to Italy

St Peter’s Basilica is a feast for the eyes and food for the soul, from its dome designed by Michelangelo to its crypt built around the tomb of St Peter. Stand in St Peter’s Square, where millions of pilgrims over the centuries have stood for the elections and funerals of popes and the canonizations of saints. Explore the side chapels of the Basilica with their sweeping mosaics and tombs of popes, take in Bernini’s Altar of the Chair and baldacchino over the main altar, and pray before Michelangelo’s Pieta which greets you at the entrance, next to the tomb of St John Paul II.

Lying just outside the Aurelian Walls, the Basilica of St Paul is unlike any other with its iconic palm trees and peaceful air of recollection, away from the bustle of central Rome. Established by Constantine in the fourth century, the Basilica is most significant as the final resting place of St Paul. A Benedictine abbey is attached to the Basilica, dating back to the sixth century and remaining active to this day. Explore the thirteenth-century cloister as a monastic addition to the richly decorated Basilica, with its famed mosaics and marbles.

The Basilica of St Mary Major is the first and greatest Marian shrine in the Western world, built after a miraculous snowfall on the Esquiiline hill on August 5 in 352. Embellished and rebuilt after the Council of Ephesus in 431, which officially declared Mary to be the Mother of God, the church became known as “the Great” or “Maggiore.” The Basilica contains some of the oldest depictions of Mary in Christian art, a beloved icon of Mary as patroness of the people of Rome, a relic of the wood from the Bethlehem manger, and the tombs of St Jerome and the artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

The Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist is the most important basilica in the world. It is the oldest basilica in the West as well as the Cathedral of the diocese of Rome. Its treasures include a relic of the table of the Last Supper, stunning mosaiced cloisters, and Rome’s first baptistery. Across the street is the Sancta Sanctorum, the former papal chapel now open to the public who wish to climb the Scala Santa, the Holy Stairs climbed by Christ in the palace of Pontius Pilate during the Passion, brought to Rome by St Helena.

Just two years after St Francis’ death, construction on the Basilica began and was consecrated by the Pope the day after St Francis’ canonization. When you step inside the Basilica, you will be met with an explosion of color with its richly decorated interior. Frescoes by leading artists of the thirteenth century – including Giotto and Cimabue – cover the walls and ceiling, and depict scenes from the life of Christ and the life of St Francis. The Basilica’s crypt holds the tomb of St Francis, where millions of pilgrims come to pray before the mortal remains of the beloved Saint.

Despite being destroyed by bombing in World War II, the reconstructed Abbey marks the site where St Benedict founded the first monastery of the Benedictine Order in the year 529. The oldest part of the monastery, including St Benedict’s cell, survived, as did the burial place of St Benedict and his twin sister, St Scholastica. Before the development of modern universities, monasteries were centers of learning and the Abbey of Monte Cassino was perhaps the most famous – you can still see the manuscripts and library archives which have been preserved.

The Basilica, also known as the Basilica Cateriniana, was built in the thirteenth century when the Dominicans arrived to teach and preach in Siena, and is significant as the place where St Catherine of Siena prayed, attended Mass, and received the Dominican habit. In the side chapels of the Basilica, you can find a fresco by Andrea Vanni with a portrait of the Saint that was painted while she was still alive, along with her skull which is held as a relic for veneration (her body is buried in Rome in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva).

The Florence Duomo, or Cathedral, is perhaps most famous for its distinctive dome – the largest brick and mortar dome ever built and designed by Brunelleschi in the fifteenth century. The interior is no less impressive than the stunning marble exterior. In addition to the dome painted with the scene of the Last Judgment, you will find statues by Donatello, 44 stained glass windows, mosaics in the Baptistery of St John, and 414 steps to climb to the top of Giotto’s Bell Tower for the best views of Florence.