
Advice, resources, & tours for pilgrims, Christians, and spiritual travelers in Italy— and how to attend mass in an Italian church
Pope Francis I's Twitter handle is @Pontifex.
(Well, OK, so technically the Pope is the Bishop of Rome, not a parish priest, and technically his cathedral is San Giovanni in Laterano, not St. Peter's. OK, hands up—and be honest—if you knew that.)
Religious convictions and an interest in the roots of one's faith are an important part of many people's trips to Italy, whether it's a full-blown pilgrimage or merely lighting a candle and offering a prayer in each church you visit.
Whether it's paying respects to St. Francis at his basilica in Assisi, hearing the Pope give mass at St. Peter's in Rome, or visiting a pilgrimage site, thousands of visitors to Italy are there, at least in part, to honor their God and make worship a part of their travel experience.
The resources, tours, and books listed below can help point you in the right directions to find the best tools to make your pilgrimage (or just the religious aspects of your trip) as memorable as possible.
For lodgings in convents and monasteries, see those separate sections.
(Note that, though currently this section is devoted to Christian travelers. There is also a page with information on Jewish Italy.)
Attending mass in an Italian church
To the best of my ability, I will endeavor to list the times you can attend mass, Vespers, Gregorian chant, and other scheduled services for every church in every town described on this site, from St. Peter's on down. This is not only for the benefit of religiously-minded visitors, but for everybody—Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and non-believer alike.
You travel to experience the local culture, no? Well, Italy is a deeply Catholic country (heck, it's the Catholic country), and while most modern Italians are fairly non-observant in their daily lives and may only attend church on major holidays, religion and the church still exert a huge influence on Italy's culture and, obviously, its history.
Attending mass at least once on your visit is as much a cultural experience as attending a soccer match, taking a cooking class, participating in a festival, or watching an Italian variety show on TV (four other activities I highly recommend).
So take at least one Sunday morning of your trip and take in a service. My recommendations:
- Mass at St. Peter's in Rome - for obvious reasons; and, since it does mass nearly constantly—around the clock every day of the week—you don't even have to wait until Sunday
- The 6:45pm Sunday mass at St. Marks Cathedral in Venice - It's a nice service and all, but the real reason is because this is the only time they throw the Big Switch and illuminate every last inch of the 40,000 square feet of glittering gold Byzantine mosaics that carpet the domes, arches, ceiling, and walls inside. Wow.
Whether or not you choose to take confession, I'll leave up to you.
- infohub.com - This aggregator lists various spriritual and religious tours from indepedent tour companiesPartner
- Economytravel.com - A well-regarded budget airfare booking site that has a special section devoted to missionary and pilgrimage consolidator fares as well as a groups department adept at helping missionary groups (of 10 or more people) arrange their trips.
- Unitours.com - Specialist in Catholic pilgrimages.
- Glory-tours.com - Tour company specializing in overseas religious tours and pilgrimages, including escorted trips.
- Christian-travelers-guides.com - Website run by Irving Hexham—a professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary—with a sampler of sections from his "Christian Travelers Guides" books to Italy, France, Germany, and Great Britain.
- Arttoheartweb.com - Intriguing take on cultural tours in Europe's great art cities: "A new way to look at art... a new way to see God. The spiritual power of music is well known. The mission of Art to Heart is to reveal the power of visual art - to inspire us; to direct our focus heavenward; to initiate an encounter with God."
- Reformationtours.com - Christian and cultural tours of Europe and the Bible Lands, focused (as the name suggests) on Protestant sights and traditions.
- Monasterystays.com - A booking site that reserves rooms at 320 properties (monasteries, convents, and other religious guesthouses) throughout Italy. It can help you avoid any language barriers and occasional deposit requirements (which often must be made through an Italian bank), and their criteria ensure you will have a private bathroom, however they do charge a modest fee. (How much of a fee? I can't tell you. I've asked several times and they refuse to reveal it.)
- Ospitalitareligiosa.it - Database of nearly 4,000 Convents, Monasteries, Hermitages, Sanctuaries, Homes, Institutes and Religious Houses, Guesthouses, and Parish Houses across Italy
- Goodnightandgodbless.com - Trisha Clark, author of the Good Night and God Bless guidebooks, also runs a website with links to hundreds of monasteries and convents that take in guests—mostly in Europe, but also in Africa, Ausrtralia, Thailand, and the USA.
- Novena.it/... - A list of monasteries, abbeys, and convents in Italy. Not necessarily up to date, and all it provides are names, addresses, and phone numbers (and not all welcome drop-in visitors; many are really only open to those seeking a longer spiritual retreat, not just a night or two's accommodation), but a pretty exhaustive list.
- Stpatricksamericanrome.org/... - Rome's American parish has a remarkably useful Website that includes a page on convent accommodations with contact info for many institutions in Rome, plus a handful in Assisi, Venice, San Gimignano, and San Giovanni Rotondo (where Padre Pio preached in Apulia).
- Hospites.it - A pretty complete database.
- Osb.org - Website of the Benedictines, listing retreat programs and guesthouses.
- Op.org - Website of the Dominicans, listing retreat programs and guesthouses.
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Festivals, holidays, traditions, and other events in [[[lace]]
The art of early Christians was Roman in style, but its themes were starting to explore the figures and motifs that would soon become familiar