The pilgrimage to Lourdes with children and families is back: here’s when

A special trip will be held from 16 to 21 May thanks to the collaboration with FS Treni Turistici Italiani

ROME – After years of waiting, the pilgrimage entirely dedicated to children and their families returns to the schedule of departures this season. The journey, the “Children’s Train – national pilgrimage of the little Unitalsi”, born thanks to the collaboration with FS Treni Turistici Italiani, scheduled in Lourdes from 16 to 22 May and with the theme “Once upon a time…, but also today”, was presented yesterday in the Presidential Hall of Rome Ostiense station.

The National President of Unitalsi, Rocco Palese, illustrated the initiative; the President of the FS Italiane Foundation, Monsignor Liberio Andreatta; the CEO of FS Treni Turistici Italiani, Luigi Cantamessa, – the new company part of the Passenger Hub of the FS Group, created to offer railway services designed and calibrated for quality tourism, which also manages religious charters. Also present were the Councilor for Mobility of the Municipality of Rome Eugenio Patanè, the President of FS Treni Turistici Italiani Alessandro Vannini Scatoli and the national vice-presidents of Unitalsi Cosimo Cilli and Sabatino Di Serafino.

Aspecial train will cross the whole country and take around 450 members to Lourdes, of which 140 are disabled children and young patients from Italian pediatric hospitals, from the Gaslini hospital in Genoa to Bambino Gesù of Rome, with whom the association has been collaborating for years through the Progetto dei Piccoli. The youngest pilgrim registered so far is six months old.

The group will also be joined by children hosted in the Unitalsi family homes located throughout the area and created as part of the Children’s Project from which the trip takes its name. Unitalsi volunteers will accompany children and young people up to 14 years of age together with their families, on a journey made up of fairy tales, curiosity and hope inspired by the fantastic environment of the tale of Pinocchio, the famous tale by Carlo Collodi, who will become a companion journey and adventures experienced by the children throughout the pilgrimage, starting right from the train of hope.

The children’s pilgrimage is the first of the thematic journeys that Unitalsi proposes to be increasingly closer to its members and to those who do not yet know the Association by creating dedicated events to be close to every type of fragility.