Every summer, the same dilemma arises: where to spend our holidays, the more or less long period of well-deserved rest that we all eagerly await throughout the year? The risk, in fact, is making the wrong choice and consequently returning home frustrated and dissatisfied. We might do “too much” and therefore return more tired than when we left; or the opposite risk: doing too little and returning home bored and disappointed. 

For several decades now, a particularly interesting form of holiday has been gaining ground. In most cases, it manages to bring together several aspects of what could be “the perfect holiday”: outdoor living with an unusual connection to nature, culture, art, a meaningful relationship with others and with oneself, in an atmosphere of silence and listening, spirituality, prayer, and… why not? Good food too. 
This is known as religious tourism, with more and more people choosing monasteries, convents, and religious houses of various types and sizes as their holiday destinations, often magnificently immersed in nature and silence. 

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A holiday thus becomes a moment of genuine relaxation and a true “break” from the frenetic pace of everyday life, which paradoxically keeps us increasingly connected with everyone 24/7 (think of social media, for example), but in reality distances us more and more from an authentic relationship with them and even with ourselves, as we are busy focusing more on the image we project than on becoming aware of who we are and what we truly desire. 

Truth, precisely. About ourselves, others, the world, and God… this is what an “alternative” holiday in one of the many places of spirituality can offer. Thanks also to the religious communities that often live there, these places become opportunities for meeting and exchange, offering the possibility of seeing ourselves and what surrounds us from a different perspective: a “pro-vocation” to return, after a well-deserved period of rest, to our former lives, not more tired or bored than when we left, but more authentic, truer, and more aware of who we are and whom the Lord calls us to be.

We therefore wish you a wonderful spiritual holiday, with all our heart!