Italy: Culture, Food, and the History of Rome

Meet your group at your home airport. Fly together as a group to Italy. Total travel time will depend on your departure location and flight schedule. Be sure to get some rest so you arrive ready for adventure!

Flight Details: Rustic Pathways will be happy to book your flight as an add-on service.

Arrive in Rome’s Fiumicino airport, collect your bags, and meet your program leaders for the week. Welcome to Italy!

From here the group will head to your accommodations to get settled in and take a few minutes to relax and absorb the amazing place you just arrived. Once everyone has regrouped, we’ll head out to get your first Italian meal at a local restaurant. Can there be such a thing as too much pizza or pasta? We don’t think so!

Flight Details: Rustic Pathways can book your flights upon request as an optional add-on service

Overnight: Hostel or Hotel

After a refreshing night of sleep, it’s time to get ready for our first morning of service and learning. We will be heading to visit the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for an educational tour and to learn about their mission of creating worldwide food security and defeating hunger with their 195-member organization. After our tour, we will spend some time as a group discussing the learnings and understanding them in the context of our own lives and our visit to Rome.

From here, we will explore the Monti neighborhood, one of the quintessential Rome neighborhoods that is just up the street from the Colosseum and full of history and great food. We’ll get pizza for lunch, take some pictures at the famous fountain in the Piazza della Madonna dei Monti & get gelato while roaming the cobblestone streets and exploring.

In the evening we’ll get some dinner and relax as a group at our accommodations. Maybe even learn a traditional Italian card game? Did you know that card decks in Italy are different in each region?

Overnight: Hostel or Hotel

After a delicious breakfast of pastry and strong espresso, we’ll be charged up to start our next day of service with a local food bank that helps feed local citizens facing food insecurity. We will help support them by sorting food, packing boxes or other activities that they need to support feeding the community.

After our morning of work, we’ll grab some sandwiches for lunch and make our way over to the Vatican for an afternoon tour. We’ll see the impressive St Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and explore this marvel of both historic and modern significance.

Overnight: Hostel or Hotel

We will head back to our service partner again this morning to continue our work supporting them and their mission of keeping people fed. Based on yesterday’s experience we’ll be well acquainted with the work and be able to have an even bigger impact today.

For lunch, we will stock up on Italian delicacies like prosciutto, cheese, focaccia, veggies and fruit to take as a picnic and explore some of the sites of the famous neighborhoods around the Trevi District. Try your luck with the famous “3 Coin Myth” of the Trevi Fountain, walk up the ‘Spanish Steps’ that lead from the Piazza di Spagna square to the French monastery church Trinita dei Monti and learn why the Pantheon is so famous.

Overnight: Hostel or Hotel

We will take our final day to explore some of the most famous and impressive sites of Rome. We will visit the Colosseum for a tour to get a full understanding of its immense size, significance in ancient Rome and impressive architecture.

We will then visit a local market and shops to pick out our perfect lunch and many local Romans do during their lunch breaks. What do you need one more time before leaving? Pizza? Pasta? Panini? Gelato?

Once we’ve refueled we’ll explore the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum to understand the rise of Rome through the centuries to an estimated population of likely over 1 million people to its decline in the Middle Ages to around 30,000 people. After a farewell dinner, we will do our Rustic Ties ceremony and finish the program with some gelato.

Overnight: Hostel or Hotel

Spend your final morning doing some last-minute souvenir bargaining for family and friends. We trust you’ve had an incredible time and look forward to seeing you again soon!

Flight Details: Rustic Pathways can book your flights upon request as an optional add-on service