Arrive at Catania Airport, where your group is warmly greeted by our local team before continuing to Syracuse, one of the most atmospheric cities in Sicily and a key stop on Saint Paul’s journey to Rome. After check-in at your handpicked hotel, enjoy time to rest and settle into the rhythm of Southern Italy.

In the evening, gather for a welcome dinner in the historic heart of Ortigia, Syracuse’s island old town. Over Sicilian flavours, fresh local produce, and views shaped by centuries of Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab and Norman history, meet your guide and fellow travellers for an introduction to the journey ahead.

Meals: Dinner

Begin the day in Syracuse, where Acts tells us Paul stayed for three days during his voyage toward Rome. The visit offers a powerful sense of transition: from the Eastern Mediterranean world of Paul’s missionary journeys toward the imperial centre of Rome.

Explore Ortigia with your guide, walking through narrow stone streets, sea-facing piazzas, and layers of ancient history. Visit the Cathedral of Syracuse, built over the ancient Temple of Athena, a striking reminder of how the classical world gradually became part of the Christian story. Continue to the Archaeological Park, including the Greek Theatre, Roman Amphitheatre and the famous Ear of Dionysius.

For lunch, enjoy a curated Sicilian meal featuring regional specialities such as caponata, handmade pasta, citrus, almonds and fresh seafood. In the afternoon, experience a private visit to a local artisan or culinary workshop — perhaps a Sicilian pastry experience, traditional ceramics, or an intimate introduction to the island’s ancient food culture.

The evening is free for reflection, rest or a quiet walk along the harbour, imagining Paul’s ship anchored on this same coastline.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

After breakfast, depart Syracuse and travel north toward Messina, crossing the Strait to mainland Italy. This passage offers a vivid geographical connection to Paul’s route, as Acts mentions Rhegium — modern Reggio Calabria — as the next stop after Syracuse.

Arrive in Reggio Calabria, a city facing Sicily across one of the most dramatic sea channels in the Mediterranean. Visit the waterfront promenade, often described as one of the most beautiful in Italy, and explore the National Archaeological Museum, home to the extraordinary Riace Bronzes, masterpieces of the ancient Greek world.

This day widens the context of Paul’s journey: he was not travelling through abstract biblical places, but through living Greco-Roman cities, ports and communities connected by sea, commerce and empire.

In the afternoon, enjoy a local bergamot tasting or visit a small producer to discover Calabria’s prized citrus heritage. Dinner is served in a local restaurant with regional dishes rooted in the flavours of Southern Italy.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today, continue north toward Naples, one of Italy’s most vibrant and historic cities. Depending on logistics and group pace, the journey may be by private coach, train or internal flight, with comfort and timing carefully planned around the group’s needs.

On arrival, begin discovering Naples’ historic centre — a UNESCO-listed urban landscape filled with churches, cloisters, ancient streets, artisan workshops and living traditions. This is a city where sacred devotion, daily life and theatrical energy exist side by side.

Enjoy a relaxed introduction to Neapolitan culture with a pizza-making experience or a guided walk through the artisan quarter, where nativity-scene craftsmen still create intricate handmade figures. Although not directly linked to Saint Paul, this experience gives travellers a genuine encounter with the religious folk culture of Southern Italy.

The evening is free to enjoy Naples at leisure.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

This morning, travel to Pozzuoli, ancient Puteoli, the important Roman port where Paul arrived and found fellow believers who invited him to stay with them. This is one of the most human and moving moments in the Italian section of his journey: after storms, shipwreck, imprisonment and uncertainty, Paul is received by a Christian community. Acts describes Paul arriving at Puteoli and staying with believers there for seven days before continuing to Rome.

Explore Rione Terra, the ancient heart of Pozzuoli, where layers of Roman streets, sacred spaces and later Christian history reveal the city’s long life. Visit the Flavian Amphitheatre, one of the largest Roman amphitheatres in Italy, and see the remains of Pozzuoli’s ancient commercial and civic world.

Lunch is arranged in the Campi Flegrei area, a volcanic landscape known for its ancient history, mineral-rich soils and distinctive wines. Enjoy a vineyard visit and tasting, connecting the biblical theme of hospitality with the Italian table: bread, wine, conversation and welcome.

Return to Naples in the late afternoon. Dinner at leisure.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today offers a deeper immersion into the world Paul knew. Travel to either Pompeii or Herculaneum, two extraordinary archaeological sites that reveal daily life in the Roman Empire with rare immediacy: homes, streets, shops, frescoes, baths and places of public life.

Although Paul did not visit these cities in the biblical account, the experience helps travellers understand the cultural, social and political world into which Christianity spread. This is the world of Roman roads, ports, households, patrons, merchants, slaves, citizens and public religion — the world in which Paul preached, wrote and formed communities.

After the archaeological visit, enjoy a countryside lunch at a family-run estate, perhaps paired with olive oil, local wine or seasonal produce from the slopes of Vesuvius.

In the afternoon, return to Naples for some free time or an optional visit to one of the city’s historic churches or cloisters.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Depart Naples and begin the journey north toward Rome, retracing the spirit of Paul’s overland route. The day is designed not simply as a transfer, but as a pilgrimage movement: from the port of arrival toward the city where Paul would witness, teach, write and ultimately be remembered as martyr.

Approach Rome through the landscape of the ancient Appian Way, the “Queen of Roads,” one of Rome’s most famous ancient roads. The Appian Way Park today preserves an extraordinary archaeological landscape with stretches of the road, Roman remains, catacombs, aqueducts and countryside within the city’s edge.

Pause for a guided walk along the ancient stones of the Via Appia Antica, allowing the group to reflect on the moment when believers came out from Rome to meet Paul at the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns. Continue with a visit to one of the early Christian catacombs, introducing the faith communities that grew in Rome after the apostolic age.

Arrive in Rome and check in at your hotel. The evening is free or may include a simple group dinner close to the hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Wake up in Rome, the city that marked the final stage of Paul’s journey and the centre of the empire to which he had long desired to bring the Gospel.

Begin at the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, one of Rome’s great pilgrimage churches and the traditional burial place of Saint Paul. The Vatican’s own basilica information states that Paul arrived in Rome in 61 AD, was beheaded between 65 and 67 AD, and was buried along the Ostiense Way, where the basilica later developed.

Continue to the Abbey of Tre Fontane, traditionally associated with Paul’s martyrdom. The abbey describes the site as one of the important places in Christianity, connected by ancient tradition with Paul’s beheading.

After lunch, visit San Paolo alla Regola, a church associated by tradition with Paul’s residence in Rome. Rome’s tourism office notes that the church is believed to have arisen around the first Roman residence of the Apostle Paul near today’s Jewish Ghetto.

Depending on the group’s interest, the day may also include the Roman Forum, Mamertine Prison, or a focused visit on Paul, Peter and the early Church in Rome. The day concludes with a farewell dinner in a traditional Roman restaurant, where the group gathers to reflect on the journey from Sicily to Rome, from arrival to witness, from history to personal meaning.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast, private transfers take the group to Rome Airport for departure.

You leave Italy having followed Saint Paul’s final recorded route across the country — from Syracuse to Rhegium, from Puteoli to the Appian Way, and finally to Rome. Along the way, you encountered ancient ports, Roman roads, early Christian memory, sacred basilicas, local artisans, regional food traditions and the enduring human story of welcome, courage, faith and witness.

Meals: Breakfast