Join Priestesses Yeshe and Zia from July 6-16, 2026, in Italy, tracking the Goddess from Rome to Naples, with visits to the sacred sites of Cybele, Isis, and Diana.
4 spaces available
Italy 2026
Strega-Diana Tour
July 6
When you arrive in Rome, you will be picked up at the airport and taken to check into our hotel. In the evening, we will have dinner at a local restaurant and rest after the long flight.
July 7-8
After a good night’s sleep and breakfast each day, we will begin our tour of Roman sites, including the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, the Colosseum, the Porta Magica, the Cappuccini Crypt, the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. We have selected walkable routes and can take taxis when needed for an intimate experience of the majesty of this ancient yet modern city.
In Imperial Rome, Cybele and Isis held divine protection, renewal, and devotion within the expanding empire. Cybele, Magna Mater or Great Mother, arrived during the Second Punic War as guardian of the state, fertility, and sovereignty. Isis worship spread widely during the late Republic and Imperial periods, offering a religious experience centered on salvation, healing, and the promise of rebirth.
July 9
We will load into our cars and travel through the Italian countryside to Lake Nemi, the famous site of the worship of Diana. We will spend time near the lake, an oracular portal into the sacred mind of the untameable woman, and look for her reflections in ourselves. Then we will continue onward to Naples, to check in for our extended stay and tour of the rich local lamdscape.
July 10
When we wake up in Naples, we will explore beautiful and unusual spaces, including the Anime del Purgatorio, which preserves a Neapolitan tradition of caring for anonymous skulls believed to represent souls in purgatory who can offer guidance and protection. We will wander Neapolis, which began as a Greek colony and grew into a major cultural center of the Mediterranean world. We will visit the Crystallini Hypogeum, a rare Hellenistic underground tomb complex with remarkably preserved painted chambers, and see the Catacombs of St. Gaudiosus, which contain early Christian burials and distinctive skull-centered funerary art.
July 11
We will hop in our cars and head to Benevento to see the Janua Witch Museum, the Church of St Sophia, and the Museum of Sannio, each of which preserves unique traditions of Goddess devotion and attention to the Divine Feminine. The Museums have amazing artifacts to explore, and in the Church we will honor the wisdom of Sophia, for whom our Caravan is named.
The Museum of Sannio houses an important collection of ancient Greek and Italic vases whose painted scenes preserve mythological imagery and daily life from the ancient Mediterranean world. There we will see clear depictions of Aphrodite, Dionysos, and other sacred figures inscribed upon beautiful vases, an extensive collection of statuary, and remarkable items salvaged from antiquity.
July 11
The Janua Witch Museum explores the rich folklore surrounding the famous “witches of Benevento,” a tradition that blends ancient Italic spirituality, medieval legend, and early modern stories of magic. Benevento has long been associated with gatherings of witches beneath a sacred walnut tree, where local lore says women met for nocturnal rites and celebrations. The museum presents artifacts, legends, and historical interpretations that illuminate how the figure of the strega became woven into the cultural identity of the region, preserving Benevento’s reputation as one of Italy’s most storied centers of magical tradition.
July 12
July 12 is for the Archaeological Park of Cumae, the remains of one of the oldest Greek colonies in Italy and the legendary setting of the oracle known as the Cumaean Sibyl. Within the park lies the long trapezoidal passage called the Sibyl’s Cave, an atmospheric corridor cut into the volcanic rock where ancient tradition said the prophetess delivered her inspired messages from the gods. Writers such as Virgil described the Sibyl of Cumae as a powerful seer who guided heroes and revealed divine will, including the descent of Aeneas into the underworld. Today the site evokes the enduring role of prophetic women in the ancient Mediterranean, where sacred landscape, divine inspiration, and the voice of the oracle came together in one of the most revered centers of prophecy in the classical world.
July 13
Pompeii offers one of the most vivid windows into daily and spiritual life in the Roman world. The Temple of Isis reveals the widespread devotion to the Egyptian goddess and her mysteries, while the Forum served as the civic and religious heart of the city where temples, markets, and political life converged. Elegant homes such as the House of the Vettii display richly painted rooms and gardens that reflect the prosperity and refined taste of Pompeii’s merchant elite. Just outside the city walls, the Villa of the Mysteries preserves a remarkable cycle of frescoes that appear to depict an initiation into the ecstatic rites of Dionysos, offering rare insight into the secretive religious experiences that animated the spiritual imagination of the ancient Mediterranean.
July 14
We will take a lovely day trip to Matera, carved into the limestone ravines of southern Italy, which preserves one of the most extraordinary sacred landscapes in Europe. Its rock-hewn churches, including Santa Lucia alle Malve and Santa Maria de Idris, commemorate a long tradition of monastic devotion where chapels and dwellings were cut directly into the living stone and adorned with Byzantine-style frescoes. The city also preserves evocative Churches of Purgatory, where skull imagery and prayers for the dead reflect southern Italy’s enduring relationship with remembrance and the afterlife. Rising above the Sassi cave districts, the Cathedral of Matera crowns the hilltop, linking the ancient cave sanctuaries below with the formal Christian life of the city above.
July 15
Beach Day? Boat Day? We will choose- it’s up to us! Bring flip flops, sunscreen, and your bathing suit to be ready for whatever adventure awaits.
July 16
On Departure Day, you will be taken to the airport for your journey home, or onward to your next adventure. You can either fly home directly from Naples, or plan your round-trip ticket in and out of Rome, and catch a quick flight from Naples in the morning. We are happy to help you work out the details of your departure during our planning sessions.
Follow the path of Cybele, Isis, and Diana on the journey from Rome to Naples
In ancient Rome and the regions around Naples, ancestral rites and domestic devotion shaped the religious life of families who honored their forebears and maintained relationships with the unseen world. Within this wider sacred culture, the cults of Cybele, Isis, and Diana held particular influence, each representing a distinct expression of divine feminine authority within the Roman religious landscape.
Cybele was revered as Magna Mater, a primordial guardian of the state and the natural order. Isis offered a sophisticated system of ritual initiation, healing, and spiritual knowledge that spread widely throughout the empire. Diana governed wilderness, the moon, and the independence of women.
In southern Italy, this flow of global devotion to the Goddess mingled with enduring local traditions that later informed the practices associated with stregheria, preserving a lineage of ritual knowledge touched by ancestry, landscape, and sacred feminine power.
Lodgings
Prices for this trip are based on double occupancy with 4 spaces available.
Meals
Your trip fee includes breakfast daily.
Lunch and dinner will typically occur while we are out sightseeing, and we typically take turns paying for meals so that everyone shares the costs and has the opportunity to relax.
If you have special needs related to food, such as gluten intolerance or allergies, please let us know so that we can support you in preparing for a happy, healthy journey.
Price Details
The price for this trip is $3600 per person.
If you'd like to book, please see below.
Inclusions
pick-up at Rome International Airport (Fiumicino)
breakfast each day
lodging in a shared room all along the way
ground transportation to all destinations
entrance fees and guidance during our visits to the sacred sites
all rituals, ceremonies, and activities in and near sacred sites
goodie bag with items to bestir wisdom and facilitate Goddess integration
drop off at Naples Airport
pre-trip planning assistance
Exclusions
flights to and from Rome/Naples
lunch and dinner expenses (estimate $300)
spending money
Personal expenses- laundry, toiletries, offerings at sacred sites.
If you are interested in booking a space on this journey, an application and a $500 non-refundable deposit are required.