In the footsteps of Ignatius, 500 years after his arrival in Italy

Getting to know St Ignatius better by visiting the places where he lived and made his choices
by following the Spirit was the idea of two friends Pinco Lorenzon and Francesca Giani.

One is a spiritual guide, and the other an architect who is an expert on the history of the area. In
2015 they organised the first pilgrimage in the footsteps of Saint Ignatius from La Storta to
Rome. This was followed by two-hour meetings at individual Ignatian sites – the Camerette,
the Vigna Antoniniana, the first house on the San Sebastianello hill- and the pilgrimage ‘St
Ignatius docile to the Spirit’ where people familiar with Ignatian spirituality participated and
showed particular gratitude and interest.

The encounter with CIS

In 2018, thanks to the meeting with the Centre for Ignatian Spirituality and Fr. Paolo Monaco
SJ, the common desire to explain and make known Ignatian places gave birth to the Ignatian
Itineraries, a project aimed at the spiritual appreciation of the places where St Ignatius of
Loyola lived in Italy, and knowledge of the history connected to them, through an experience
of prayer and meditation.

The roots

At the origin of the project are the teachings of Fr. Francesco Rossi de Gasperis SJ, who
explained through the method of “La Bible sur le terrain” how knowledge of the earth helps
one to understand the Word as well as Manuel Ruiz Jurado SJ’s book “The places of St
Ignatius in Rome”, and experiences of pilgrimages to Ignatian places in Rome promoted in
the 1990s by Fr. Paolo Bizzetti SJ and Jesuit professors at the Gregorian University.

What are they

These pilgrimages are a prayer experience which takes place in the places of St. Ignatius in
Italy through narration, human, historical and artistic knowledge and the application of
memory and intellect. They are composed of five different activities: “Ignatian Itinerarie
“Following Ignatius the Pilgrim”, “Seeing and Tasting” drawing and meditation experiences,
Pilgrimages on demand to Ignatian places in Italy and the Formation Course for Guides of
the Ignatian places.

Monthly meetings

These are short pilgrimages to the places where St Ignatius lived in Rome with elements of
Ignatian spirituality, meditation, prayer and historical and artistic information. They take
place once a month in the afternoon – Saturdays from 3.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. – where, starting
from a theme valued by St Ignatius, Ignatius’ places are retraced on foot.
The itineraries are free of charge and are based on the available sources that recount the life
of St Ignatius and the early Fathers in Rome, also through encounters with contemporary
situations related to what they experienced. There is a new group of pilgrims each time and
consists of 30-40 people. The routes can be found through links on the CIS website.

To date, 19 routes have been uploaded.

The anniversaries of his arrival in Rome

On 18 February, the pilgrimage to Gaeta, initiated the celebrations for the 500th
anniversary of St Ignatius’ first arrival in Italy. Scheduled for 29 March is a stopover
at the ancient Spanish pilgrims’ hospital in Rome, on 2 April the pilgrimage to the 7
churches, made by Ignatius himself during his brief stay in Rome, and from 26 to 28
May in Veneto the commemoration of Ignatius’ brief delay to leave for Jerusalem.

To keep informed about the activities of Ignatian Itineraries fill in the form with your details
on this link.