Uncover Christianity’s history and architectural influence on the Eternal City during this seven-hour tour beginning at your Rome hotel at 8am. Be sure to dress modestly since you will be visiting churches with strict dress codes, including no shorts or sleeveless tops allowed and knees and shoulders covered for men and women.
You’ll travel by air-conditioned vehicle to St. Paul Outside the Walls and your guide will spend about 30 minutes explaining its significance as you experience the grandeur of its altars, ceiling, and sculptures. You’ll next travel for about 30 minutes to the other side of the city, to visit Santa Maria Maggiore, hearing the legend of the church’s construction by a Roman patrician and his wife after receiving a vision from the Virgin Mary. Nearby, you’ll visit St. John Lateran, where your guide will explain the significance of the church’s many Renaissance artworks, and its role as the seat of the Pope. Take a brief 10 minute walk to nearby Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, one of Rome’s seven pilgrimage churches, housing relics said to be from the Passion of Jesus, including thorns from his crown, and pieces of the cross. Your guide will make recommendations for lunch, and after a leisurely meal, you’ll travel along historical Appian Way for about 20 minutes to Church of Domine Quo Vadis. There, you’ll see footprints in marble that are popularly held to be a miraculous sign left by Jesus. If the tour schedule allows, you will visit the nearby Catacombs, a subterranean ancient Christian burial site. Your tour will conclude with an included transfer back to your Rome hotel at about 3pm.
