We landed at the Rome airport – actually Leonardo da Vinci
International Airport at Fiumicino, down on the coast near Ostia at the mouth
of the Tiber River, ten or twelve miles from Rome itself – at about 07:10 local time. By 08:40 we had finished passport control and
claimed our baggage, and met our Italian “escort,” Debra – actually a British expatriate married
to an Italian – who works with Magnificat Tours. She had us on the bus and
headed to our first destination, Assisi, the home of St. Francis, by 09:30. Our
bus-driver for the entire trip will be one Luigi. We are a total of 46 pilgrims, mostly from
Louisiana – Natchitoches with Fr. Ryan Humphries of the Minor Basilica of the
Immaculate Conception; a group from Vacherie with his friend Fr. Chris Decker of Baton
Rouge; and a few outliers from Lafayette, New Orleans, and even a father and son from
Little Rock, Arkansas. And Alexis, the representative from Magnificat.
