Encountering Francis and Clare:
Opening to Deeper Seeing and Being
October 19-30, 2026
This pilgrimage unfolds during a Jubilee Year honoring St. Francis—a sacred invitation to return to a way of seeing shaped by love, humility, and courage. Eight hundred years after his death, his witness remains strikingly relevant. In a world marked by division, excess, and spiritual longing, Francis—alongside Clare’s steadfast and contemplative strength—offers a path of simplicity, reconciliation, and reverence for all of creation. Their lives speak not as distant history, but as a living invitation for our own time.
We come to walk through the landscapes that formed Francis and Clare, not only with our feet, but with our attention. We come to experience life through their eyes: eyes trained by prayer, softened by suffering, and widened by love. To see as they saw—creation as sacred, each person as brother or sister, and every moment as an opportunity for conversion of the heart.
To listen as they listened—to God’s voice arising in silence, in the cries of the poor, in the beauty and fragility of the world. To open both our inner and outer lives to the values that guided them 800 years ago and continue to speak with clarity into our own unsettled time.
Francis and Clare lived amid social unrest, economic disparity, and spiritual uncertainty. Rather than turning away, they allowed these realities to shape their prayer and their response. Through their eyes, division became an invitation to kinship, fear an opening to trust, and excess a call to simplicity.
This pilgrimage invites us into that same turning—toward a life made simpler, more spacious, and more compassionate. A way of living where prayer shapes perception, where love becomes a discipline of attention, and where seeing differently allows us to live differently.
With space for 23 participants, this is an intimate journey offering a unique opportunity to walk in the spirit of St. Francis with a like-hearted community
The Vasta family and the keepers of Villa Pieve are ready to welcome you!
Villa Pieve
Our home for 10 nights in Umbria, the green heart of Italy. Villa Pieve is located on 8 acres of land next to an historical, medieval castle in the foothills of one of Italy’s most beautiful towns, Corciano.
www.villapieve.it
Pricing
$5099 per person (double occupancy)
$550 – single supplement
$200 discount if making final payment by check
Price includes:
- Roundtrip airfare from Chicago O’Hare airport
- Lodging
- Meals (except for 4 meals out)
- Ground transportation
- Entrance fees
- Gratuities
- Private guide
Registration & Complete Details
Click here for complete details, schedule of events, registration and more.
