Cascia, Santa Rita and Roccaporena from Rome Private Day Tour

Santa Rita Shrine. The basilica of Santa Rita da Cascia is a minor basilica of Cascia, belonging to the homonymous sanctuary: the mortal remains of Saint Rita are venerated inside. (Rita of Cascia, born Margherita Lotti (Roccaporena, 1381 - Cascia, 22 May 1457), was an Italian nun of the eremitan monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena, beatified by Pope Urban VIII in 1628, was proclaimed saint by Pope Leo XIII in 1900.) In the first decades of the twentieth century, the steady increase in pilgrims visiting the reliquary with the remains of Saint Rita made the old church unsuitable for hosting such a large number of people. This was how Mother Maria Teresa Fasce, today blessed , abbess of the nearby monastery of Santa Rita da Cascia where Saint Rita had lived for more than forty years, promoted the construction of a new church suited to the needs of the faithful;

Roccaporena. Roccaporena is a fraction of the municipality of Cascia, in the province of Perugia. The village is located at a height of 707 m, at the end of a small gorge, about 6 km from Cascia. According to the Istat 2001 census data, it is inhabited by 73 residents. The town has existed since the Middle Ages, when, in 1381, Santa Rita da Cascia was born there. In 1939 the Opera di Santa Rita was founded, to promote the cult of the Saint, to cure and make known his memories to Roccaporena, to do charitable works on his example by setting up an orphanage. The traditional isolation of the places was interrupted in 1950, when the road (the only one) connecting Roccaporena to Cascia was inaugurated.

Spoleto.   Spoleto is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful cities of Umbria and, in the context of the day trip, it could be a pleasant place to have a good lunch and a quick visit to the cathedral.