This morning your journey will continue with a visit to the Vatican museums 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 Constantine, see the Pietà of Michelangelo, and the Baldacchino of Bernini. 

After free time in the afternoon, you’ll regroup for a 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.

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. 

Pertinent readings:

• Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great), Dialogues (book 2, preface, chapters 33-34, 36)

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 and learning how buffalo mozzarella is made on your agriturismo's farm. In today's cooking lesson, you'll learn the importance of family, regionality, and ingredients as you 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.

Pertinent readings:

• Pliny the Younger, Letters (book 6, letters 16 and 20)
• Seneca, Natural Questions (book 6, sections 1-2)

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.

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.

Pertinent readings:

• Homeric hymns to Athena, Hera, and Poseidon (Greek and English)
• Goethe’s diary entry about Paestum (March 23, 1787)

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

Pertinent readings:

• Henry James’ description of Fra Angelico’s The Crucifixion with Saints, from Italian Hours
• Michelangelo, Poem 46 (“Se ‘l mio rozzo martello”)

There are no activities planned for this morning. You'll depart Florence in the early morning for your early afternoon departure from Rome.