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Southern Europe
Where the apostles were martyred and the Church endured
Rome is where the story of the early Church reaches its most dramatic chapters. Peter was crucified here. Paul was beheaded here. The first believers worshipped in secret in the catacombs beneath the city's streets. And then — against every human expectation — the faith that Rome tried to extinguish became the faith of the empire. This ten-day faith journey moves through Rome, Assisi, Florence, and Venice, holding together the courage of the martyrs and the glory of a civilization shaped by the Gospel.
Rome — the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Mamertine Prison where Paul was held
The Domitilla Catacombs — miles of underground galleries where early Christians buried their dead
Vatican City — the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica over Peter's tomb
Assisi — the Basilica of St. Francis, where the medieval Church recovered the simplicity of the Gospel
Florence — the Duomo, Michelangelo's David, the Uffizi
Venice — St. Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace, the Grand Canal
The Journey
Depart for Rome. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman church before he had ever visited it — longing to come, certain of its strategic importance. "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16).
Land at Rome Fiumicino Airport and transfer to your hotel in the Eternal City. Rome in the first century was the center of the world — and it was into this world that the Gospel came, spread through a network of house churches, and eventually changed everything. Rest and gather as a group.
Walk the Roman Forum — the civic heart of the empire Paul navigated, where emperors were deified and justice was dispensed. Enter the Colosseum, where Christian tradition holds that many believers were martyred for their refusal to honor the gods of Rome. Visit the Mamertine Prison at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, where Paul is said to have been held before his execution. Stand in the space and read his final letter: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7).
Descend into the Domitilla Catacombs — one of the largest catacomb networks in Rome, with miles of underground galleries where early Christians buried their dead and gathered for worship under persecution. See the ancient frescoes of Christ as the Good Shepherd. Visit San Clemente, a layered church where a twelfth-century basilica sits atop a fourth-century church, which itself sits atop a first-century Roman home — possibly the house of Clement, bishop of Rome. End at St. Paul's Basilica Outside the Walls, built over the traditional site of Paul's tomb.
Enter Vatican City. Walk the Vatican Museums — the greatest collection of art in the world, accumulated over five centuries of papal patronage, including the Gallery of Maps, the Raphael Rooms, and the Belvedere courtyard. Enter the Sistine Chapel and stand beneath Michelangelo's ceiling — the creation of Adam, the fall, the flood, the prophets. Emerge into St. Peter's Basilica, built over the tomb of the apostle who denied Christ three times and was then told: "Feed my sheep." Climb to the dome for a view across Rome.
Travel north to Assisi, the hilltop town where Francis was born in 1181 into wealth and died in poverty — and changed the Church. Visit the Basilica of St. Francis, built over his tomb, its walls covered in Giotto's frescoes of his life. Visit the Basilica of St. Clare, founded by his closest companion. Assisi raises the question every pastor must answer: what does it look like when the Church recovers the simplicity and the radicalism of the Gospel?
Arrive in Florence — the city of the Renaissance, where the recovery of classical learning intersected with Christian faith to produce some of the greatest art in human history. Visit the Duomo and Brunelleschi's dome, an engineering feat that stood as the largest in the world for centuries. See Michelangelo's David at the Accademia — sculpted from a single block of marble and depicting the moment before the giant falls. Walk the Ponte Vecchio and the old city.
Visit Pisa's Campo dei Miracoli — the Field of Miracles — where the Cathedral, the Baptistery, and the famous Leaning Tower stand together in one of the most striking piazzas in Italy. The Baptistery was built to hold the entire population of medieval Pisa for a single annual baptism service — a reminder that the rites of the Church once structured civic life itself.
Arrive in Venice — a city built on water, sustained by trade, and adorned with the wealth of a thousand years of Mediterranean commerce. Visit St. Mark's Basilica, whose interior mosaics tell the entire story of Scripture in gold-ground tesserae. Walk through the Doge's Palace, the center of a republic that lasted a thousand years. Take a gondola through the smaller canals as the day ends — a city unlike any other, and a fitting close to this journey through the layered history of the Christian West.
Transfer to Venice Marco Polo Airport for your return flight. You have walked through the courage of the martyrs, the ambition of the builders, and the beauty that faith has produced across two millennia. The Church endures.
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