After breakfast in your hotel, you’ll set out with your local guide for a walk that follows the history of the city from its founding by Romulus in 753 BC, through its seven kings, to the Roman republic, and finally to the rise and fall of the empire itself. You’ll start at the Capitoline Hill (after which all capitals are named), and visit the Roman Forum and Palatine. On this morning’s walk you’ll follow the history of the city through the texts of Livy, Cicero, and Saint Paul. While visiting palatine you’ll consider the rise of a tribe of shepherds who came to rule the world while witnessing the opulence of the emperors and the abandonment of virtue and principles that led to the city’s demise.

The afternoon you’ll be free to visit the city on your own.

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Your journey will continue this morning with a visit to one of the most revelatory sites of Rome, the eleventh century church of Saint Clemente where you can seemingly travel back in time as you descend into the excavated underground of the ancient city to see the ruins of the fourth century church, a temple to mithras, the ancient alleyways of Rome, the living room of a Roman villa, and the underground spring still flowing today. 

Your morning will continue with an introduction to the nearby Colosseum, the iconic amphitheater built over the Domus Aurea of the emperor Nero in the first century AD.  And, time permitting, you’ll see a statue that defies the passage of time with a visit to St. Peter in Chains, where you’ll see both Michelangelo’s Moses and the chains that once held St. Peter

This morning your journey will continue with a visit to the Vatican museums (or another site of your school's choosing*) where you’ll see some of the greatest sculptures of antiquity, the gallery of maps and tapestries, the rooms of Rafael, including his famous School of Athens, and the Sistine chapel painted by Michelangelo. 

After visiting these galleries which were once the private collections of the popes, you’ll ascend the steps to St. Peter’s, the church originally founded by the emperor Constanti see the Pieta of Michelangelo, and the Baldacchino of Bernini. 

After free time this afternoon, you’ll regroup for late afternoon stroll. Your first stop will be the Pantheon, the first century AD temple constructed to all gods, now converted into a church. Next you’ll visit the nearby churches that hold Caravaggio’s paintings, followed by dinner.  This evening you'll take a night walk where you'll see the Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps.

*Alithea encourages trip participants to consider the Mausoleum of Constantina, Saint Agnes outside the Walls, and the catacombs of Priscilla or either the Barberini or Borghese Museum.

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This morning you'll depart early to drive to the mountains of Subiaco where Saint Benedict first dedicated himself to a life of prayer focused on the goodness of God. It was here, on the side of the cliff overlooking the beauty of the surrounding mountains, that the saint founded his first monastic community and developed the monastic rule that would not only guide Christians towards a life of work and prayer but also help to shape all of Western civilization.

Your morning of pilgrimage will follow in the steps of countless others, including Saint Francis who visited this pilgrimage site in the thirteenth century. You will begin our morning at the lower, more recent monastery of Saint Benedict, then you’ll walk up the stone path to the monastery of the Holy Cave, Sacro Speco, where Saint Benedict first lived and which houses a stunning cycle of frescoes dating back to the eighth century. Here you’ll take time for quiet reflection, to encounter the monks, and to consider Benedict’s fuga mundi, flight from the world, and his dedication to a life of prayer and work.

In the late morning, you'll depart the mountains and continue south by bus towards the southern Italian region of Campania. In the late afternoon, you'll arrive in time for a quick swim at your agriturismo, a working farm and hotel, before a farm to table dinner.

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After breakfast in your hotel, you'll travel to the nearby roman city of Pompeii, which was both destroyed and therefore preserved for posterity, by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Here you’ll walk the streets of a first century city with your local guide introducing the theaters, temples, forum, villas, baths, tavernas, frescoes, gardens, and the rhythms of daily life. You’ll have time to explore the city on your own before departing in the direction of Mount Vesuvius. You'll stop en route at a family run trattoria overlooking the slopes for lunch before climbing to the crater's edge where you'll take time to read Pliny's letters that describe the eruption of the volcano.

After returning to your agriturismo, you’ll spend the late afternoon learning to cook like a southern Italian. In today's cooking lesson, you'll learn the importance of family, regionality, and ingredients as begin to understand that for Italians, preparing a meal is not just following a traditional family recipe, but also an expression of love and celebration.

After breakfast in our Agriturismo you’ll continue your classical pilgrimage with a visit to the ancient Greek city at Paestum. As you enter the high stone walls, you'll see some of the best preserved Greek temples anywhere in the world. The temples to Poseidon, Hera, and Athena offer an insight into modes of worship that bestowed the highest honor on the divine in both nature and humanity. Walking these ancient stone streets and meandering through the foundations of homes, theaters, and marketplaces, you can almost hear the voices of those who once filled this city named for the god Poseidon and the rustle of the waves in the nearby sea.

The second part of your morning will be dedicated to observing the Italian tradition of making buffalo mozzarella by hand as you visit a nearby farm.

This afternoon you’ll head for a relaxing swim in the nearby sea before returning to your agriturismo for another family style meal.

Travel time: ~1.5 hrs.

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This morning you'’ll depart by train for Florence. After checking into our hotel, a Renaissance Palazzo, you’ll regroup this afternoon for a walking tour of the city where you’ll see the rise of Florence as an independent city state through the buildings that come to represent the freedom of individuals, the guilds, and the ideas that characterize the Renaissance. 

Your walk will conclude with a visit to the Academy Gallery where you’ll see Michelangelo’s David, his ‘prisoners’ or the unfinished sculpture for Pope Julius II tomb, and one of the city’s great collections of late medieval and early renaissance paintings. 

After breakfast in your hotel, this morning you’ll visit the monastery of San Marco where the humanism of the 14th century first took root. Here you’ll see the beautifully frescoed rooms painted by Fra Angelico including his Annunciation of the Angel to the Mary.

Your journey through the foundations of Western Civilization will continue this morning with a stroll through the city of Dante, Petrache, Lorenzo de Medici, Savanarola, Giotto and the many buildings connected with their lives. Your morning will conclude with a timed entrance to climb Brunelleschi’s dome. 

This morning you’ll visit Uffizi Gallery where your local guide will take you on a visual journey from the late Medieval to the high Renaissance. Here you’ll see the great works of Boticelli, Michelangelo, Titian, Rafael, Caravaggio, and many more. 

This evening, you’ll regroup for dinner to celebrate your trip with a Tuscan feast, taking time for consider the gifts of history, art, and the West, while celebrating the journey that lies ahead. 

There are no activities planned for this morning. Your Alithea guide will be available throughout breakfast to help with travel connections to the airport or any additional stops on your journey.