Italy - Rome
2 Full Sightseeing Days • 3 Nights

Extension Includes:

• Escorted by Professional Tour Director
• Choice of Deluxe, Superior First-Class or First Class Hotels
• Breakfast & Dinner Daily
• Comprehensive Sightseeing
• Transfers, Porterage and Entrance Fees
• USTOA $1 Million Travelers Assistance Program

Day 1 - Rome

Arrival in Rome; meeting, assistance and transfer to your hotel. The balance of the day is at leisure to acquaint yourself with the "Eternal City." Overnight in Rome.

Day 2 - Rome

Today begins at the Vatican Museum in the Corte della Pigna where an expert guide will present an overview of the history and beauty of the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. Walk through the halls featuring Greco-Roman sculptures and tapestries ? including magnificent 16th century Flemish tapestries executed from Raphael’s designs. Enter the Maps Gallery, a 120 ft. long gallery hung with interesting ancient maps. View the Sistine Chapel, the Pope’s official private chapel, where the elections of conclaves are held and the famed Pieta by Michelangelo is on display. Be sure to raise your eyes to see Michelangelo’s ‘Creation’ and the famous ‘Last Judgment’. This afternoon enjoy leisure time; visit some additional sites or browse the many quaint shopping areas. Overnight in Rome.

Please Note: Subject to availability, on Wednesdays, while in Rome, guests may participate in a Papal Audience with Pope Benedict XVI.

Day 3 - Colosseum• Roman Forum • Palatine Hill • Church of Paul Outside the Walls • Old Appian Way• Catacombs • Church of St. John in Lateran

Tour the major sites of Rome and relive a bit of Rome’s past splendor; view legendary monuments, palaces, ruins, squares and fountains. The first photo-op is at one of its most famous ? the Colosseum ? famed as the battleground of gladiators and according to tradition, the scene of the martyrdom of early Christians. Next, visit the Roman Forum, part of the most ancient group of ruins in Rome. Once nothing more than a marshy hollow, the area was drained and with the digging of the “Cloaca Maxima”’ it became the political, commercial and religious center of ancient Rome. Climb Palatine Hill, to see the remains of ancient Roman homes and of the “Roma Quadrata” (square-shaped Rome) founded by Romulus. This afternoon will center on the Christian sites of Rome beginning at the Church of Paul Outside the Walls (Basilica Di San Paolo Fuori Le Mura), the second largest church in Rome. It is said that when Emperor Constantine the Great gave peace to the Christian Church and honored her saints, the emperor enclosed the Apostle Paul’s body in a metal case topped with a heavy cross of gold. He then built a church above the grave. This Basilica is the most beautiful of all the Roman churches and one of the four Patriarchal Basilicas. Continue along the Old Appian Way to visit one of the magnificent Catacombs of Rome. This underground maze of tunnels was hollowed out of solid rock. Here early Christians, persecuted by the Romans, practiced their faith and buried their dead in secret. Conclude the day with a view of The Church of St. John in Lateran (San Giovanni in Laterano), and the Holy Stairs which, according to tradition, are the very stairs Jesus climbed to reach Pilate's Palace in Jerusalem. Farewell overnight in Rome.

Day 4 - Rome Airport

Transfer to the Rome Airport for return flight(s).  Or, extend to one of our many other destinations.