Pilgrimage to Italy

A 12-day Eastern Orthodox Pilgrimage with Father Thomas Colyandro, PhD.

† A full, unhurried day at the Basilica di San Nicola, Bari – the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra, with Divine Liturgy in the crypt’s Orthodox chapel (arrangements to be confirmed)

† The relics of St. Thomas the Apostle at Ortona, translated from Chios in 1258 – dear to the East in the traditions of both Edessa and India

† The grotto sanctuary of the Archangel Michael at Monte Sant Angelo, venerated without interruption by East and West since late antiquity

† The 800 Martyrs of Otranto and the cathedral’s Tree of Life mosaic – the Byzantine and Greek inheritance of the Salento, at the closest point in Italy to Greece

† Rome’s Eastern Christian heritage – the tomb of St. Cyril, Apostle to the Slavs, at San Clemente; San Teodoro al Palatino, still used for Greek Orthodox liturgy; the catacombs of the undivided Church

† A pace shaped for prayer – only one single-night stay, and the centerpiece day at Bari is followed by a lighter day of rest

DAY 1 | MONDAY, JUNE 7, 2027
DEPART HOUSTON IAH
Depart the United States from Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) on a nonstop overnight flight to Rome, Italy.

Day 2 – Tuesday, June 8, 2027
Arrival Rome FCO / Assisi
Arrive at Rome Fiumicino (FCO), where our escort meets the group after passport control and baggage claim. We allow generous time for luggage collection, coach loading and a comfort stop before the two-and-a-half-hour drive north into Umbria. Arriving in Assisi in the afternoon, we check in, rest and gather for a welcome dinner and orientation, at which Fr. Thomas introduces the spiritual themes of the journey. Dinner and overnight in Assisi.

Day 3 – Wednesday, June 9, 2027
Assisi
A full day in the hill town of St. Francis, a shared-heritage stop where East and West find common ground in the ideals of poverty, humility and love of creation. We visit the Basilica of St. Francis with its Giotto frescoes and the saint’s tomb in the lower church, the Basilica of St. Clare, and the Cathedral of San Rufino, where both saints were baptized. Time is set aside for prayer and for a walk through the quiet medieval lanes; an optional descent to San Damiano or the Portiuncula at Santa Maria degli Angeli may be arranged. Dinner and overnight in Assisi.

Day 4 – Thursday, June 10, 2027
Assisi / Ortona
Morning departure across the Apennines to the Adriatic coast of Abruzzo, a scenic drive of about three and a half hours. We arrive in Ortona around midday with free time for lunch by the harbour. In the afternoon we visit the Basilica of St. Thomas the Apostle, which has held the relics of the Apostle since 1258, when they were brought from the Greek island of Chios. For an Orthodox pilgrim this is a place of special resonance: Thomas, evangelizer of Edessa and India, rests here under the care of both traditions. Time for veneration and prayer at the crypt. Dinner and overnight in Ortona.

Day 5 – Friday, June 11, 2027
Ortona / San Giovanni Rotondo / Monte Sant’Angelo / Bari
A long but rewarding touring day south along the Adriatic into the Gargano promontory. Our first stop is San Giovanni Rotondo, the shrine of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, where we see the friary church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the crypt holding his tomb and the modern sanctuary designed by Renzo Piano. We continue forty minutes into the mountains to Monte Sant’Angelo and the Sanctuary of St. Michael the Archangel, an ancient grotto shrine venerated without interruption by East and West since late antiquity and a UNESCO World Heritage site on the historic Lombard pilgrim route. Descending to the Puglian coast, we arrive in Bari in the evening. Dinner and overnight in Bari.

Day 6 – Saturday, June 12, 2027
Bari and Monopoli
The spiritual centrepiece of the pilgrimage. We spend the morning at the Basilica of St. Nicholas, resting place of St. Nicholas of Myra since 1087, whose Orthodox crypt chapel is one of the few places in the Latin West where the Divine Liturgy is regularly celebrated; arrangements for prayer at the relics are made in advance. We then walk the old town of Bari Vecchia, past the Cathedral of San Sabino and the Norman castle, with free time for lunch. In the afternoon a short drive along the coast brings us to Monopoli and its Cathedral of the Madonna della Madia, home to the beloved Byzantine icon of the Theotokos said to have arrived by sea on a raft. Return to Bari for dinner and overnight.

Day 7 – Sunday, June 13, 2027
Matera Rock Churches and Alberobello
Full-day excursion inland to two of southern Italy’s most remarkable towns, which pair naturally on one route. In Matera, a UNESCO World Heritage site, we explore the Sassi and include a guided visit to selected rock-hewn churches whose medieval Byzantine frescoes reflect the long presence of Greek monastic communities. After free time for lunch we continue to Alberobello, the unique town of whitewashed trulli with conical stone roofs, also protected by UNESCO. We stroll through the Rione Monti district and visit the trullo church of St. Anthony before returning to Bari for dinner and overnight.

Day 8 – Monday, June 14, 2027
Santa Maria di Cerrate / Lecce / Otranto
A full day in the far south of Puglia, the region where Greek was spoken and the Byzantine rite endured longest in Italy. We begin at the Abbey Church of Santa Maria di Cerrate, a remarkable Romanesque monastic complex outside Lecce whose medieval frescoes reflect strong Byzantine artistic influence. We then continue to Lecce, the “Florence of the South,” for Piazza del Duomo, its honey-coloured Baroque churches and the Roman amphitheatre. After free time for lunch we travel to Otranto, Italy’s easternmost town and historic gateway to the East. In the cathedral we see the extraordinary twelfth-century Tree of Life mosaic floor and venerate the relics of the eight hundred Martyrs of Otranto. Return to Bari for dinner and overnight.

Day 9 – Tuesday, June 15, 2027
Bari / Grottaferrata / Rome
We leave Bari this morning and travel west across the Italian peninsula toward Lazio. En route we visit the Abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata, founded in 1004 by St. Nilus of Rossano. This Byzantine Catholic monastery preserves the Greek monastic and liturgical tradition while remaining in communion with Rome, making it a particularly meaningful setting where Eastern and Western Christianity meet once again. We have time for lunch before continuing into Rome. Arrival is expected in the late afternoon or early evening.

Day 10 – Wednesday, June 16, 2027
Rome
A full day devoted to Christian Rome. We begin at the Basilica of San Clemente, with its twelfth-century church built over a fourth-century basilica and, beneath that, a first-century house; the tomb of St. Cyril, Apostle to the Slavs, lies here. We continue to Santa Maria in Cosmedin, long the church of Rome’s Greek community and home to the icon of the Madonna of the Passion, and to San Teodoro al Palatino, today entrusted to the Greek Orthodox Church. The afternoon takes in St. John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome, and the Basilica of St. Mary Major with its fifth-century mosaics. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

Day 11 – Thursday, June 17, 2027
Rome
Our second day in Rome continues the program at a comfortable pace. In the morning we cross to the Vatican for St. Peter’s Basilica and the tomb of the Apostle, with time to pray at the tombs of the popes and to see Michelangelo’s Pietà. We then visit the Catacombs of St. Callixtus on the Appian Way, burial place of the early Roman martyrs and a tangible link to the undivided Church of the first centuries. A farewell dinner brings the pilgrimage to a close. Overnight in Rome.

Day 12 – Friday, June 18, 2027
Departure Rome FCO
After an early breakfast, we bid farewell to the Eternal City and transfer to Fiumicino Airport for the return flight home, carrying with us the memories and blessings of eleven days in the footsteps of the apostles and saints.

Fr. Thomas is an Orthodox priest and spiritual counselor, president of the Holy Silence Foundation, and a Fellow at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. He serves on the steering committee of the International Orthodox Theological Association’s Asceticism and Spirituality Group and on the board of the Orientale Lumen Foundation.

A former senior lecturer at the University of St. Thomas Graduate School of Theology, he has written or edited ten books and led retreats and master classes for many years. His work centers on the uncreated silence of the Holy Spirit.

Fr. Thomas has prayed and studied at St. Catherine’s on Sinai, St. Anthony’s in the Eastern Desert, Transfiguration Monastery on Mt. Tabor, and St. John the Baptist Monastery in Essex.