GRAND CATHOLIC ITALY FEATURING OBERAMMERGAU - 2010

14 days incl. travel or 13 days from Rome to Munich (TVO)

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Vacation Overview

On this vacation, discover Italy from Rome to Venice. Start your trip in Rome, Italy’s capital, with a welcome dinner and guided tours with a Local Guide to the Holy Stairs, St. John Lateran Basilica, St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. Mary Major Basilica, the Catacombs, the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Square and Basilica, the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.

Travel to Montecassino to visit the first of the Benedictine monasteries founded by St. Benedict around 529 AD. Then journey to Italy’s eastern coast and San Giovanni Rotondo, home to the beloved St. Padre Pio. Visit his Friary, the Old Church, and the New Church. Next, visit the Shrine of Monte Sant'Angelo, one of Christendom’s most celebrated shrines and where St. Michael the Archangel appeared in the 5th and 17th centuries.

Via Lanciano's Church and the Holy House of Loreto, travel to Assisi, where guided visits to the Basilicas of St. Francis and St. Clare are included. See the crucifix that spoke to St. Francis and visit the St. Mary of the Angel’s Basilica and the Portiuncula.

On the way to Florence, stop in Siena and visit the Sanctuary of St. Catherine and the Basilica of St. Dominic. Spend two nights in Florence and enjoy a guided sightseeing tour including a visit to Michelangelo's David. Stop in Padua to visit St. Anthony's Basilica and arrive in Venice. Enter Venice by private boat to meet your Local Guide and visit St. Mark's Square and Basilica. Later, enjoy a farewell dinner at a local restaurant—a perfect ending to the Italian portion of your Grand Catholic Italy vacation.

From Venice, travel to Innsbruck in Austria, host of the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics. Stroll through the quaint medieval lanes to Emperor Maximilian’s Golden Roof. Then travel to Oberammergau for the highlight of your vacation: the original Passion Play—held every 10 years and performed by the community of Oberammergau. Enjoy first-class seats to the Passion Play and hotel space in the town of Oberammergau. Your vacation ends in Munich with an orientation tour and farewell dinner—a perfect way to end this trip of a lifetime.

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A Vacation Story Vatican Museums

"In the early 1500s, Rome was full of neglected ruins from the days of the ancient Empire, which still contained artworks buried amongst the rubble. The Renaissance had seen a sudden growth of interest in all things classical, and the popes – cultivated men who were in touch with the intellectual currents of the day – were the richest art collectors in Italy. They began offering substantial cash rewards for any sculptures, until Rome was scoured by freelance treasure hunters on the hunt for pagan masterpieces. The most dramatic discovery occurred in 1506, when a Roman father-and-son team of excavators reported a promising find near the ruined Baths of Titus. The artist Michelangelo himself excitedly hurried over to help with the work, followed by the pope’s official agent, Guiliano da Sangallo. When the excavators brushed away the dirt of 1,000 years, they found an enormous marble sculpture, perfectly intact, of a muscular Trojan hero being attacked by giant snakes. Guilano cried out in amazement, “This is the very Laocoön described by (the ancient Roman author) Pliny!” The sculpture was carted off to the Vatican Museum."