Spring Break: Northern Italy

After a very blustery trip to Venice, the girls from K-State headed out in search of a Spring Break paradise. Our travels began with a short jaunt to Vicenza. The famous architect Palladio was very active in that region and we were determined to see some of his work.

We learned a lot during this trip...you really need to do your homework. We were told that you could see all sorts of Palladio's work with just a short walk through town. However, we had all of our Spring Break luggage with us. Luckily we all had backpacks, but they were quite heavy. After a little bit of a wild goose chase, we made it out of town on a bus to see the Villa Rotunda. Unfortunately, we hadn't researched the opening hours and arrived a few minutes past the afternoon closing for siesta. Chris Curtis, a boy from K-State joined us for this part of the journey. Ever the optimist, he quipped, "Once you've seen one side of Palladio, you've seen them all." This picture was taken through the iron gate and luckily for us, each side of the building is identical. We returned back to the train station to continue our journey to "fair Verona where we lay our scene..."

We found our hostel and ditched our bags as soon as we could. We only had an evening in Verona and so we were eager to fit as much in as possible. One of the attractions of Verona is that is the setting for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. This balcony is supposedly Juliet's balcony and hundereds of lovers flock here each year to pin love notes on the walls.

Our next day was spent travelling to Milan and exploring the city in the later afternoon. We visited the Duomo, one of the first Italian Gothic churches that we have been inside. The height of the interior was very impressive and much taller than all of the churches we had been to. Adjacent to the Duomo is the famous Gallery with shops like Prada...and McDonald's. We ate dinner on top of Rinascente, a department store with rooftop views of the Duomo. Unfortunately they were doing renovations, and our views were extremely limited.

For something that is used so often and in such an industrial way, the train station in Milan is truly beautiful. The lobby is made of carved marble and has such a sense of grandeur. It recalls a different era when the train was king of transportation. The train shed is made of steel and glass and was quite revolutionary structurally for its time.

We finally arrived in Riomaggiore, one of the towns considered part of the Cinque Terre. All five towns are located rather remotely on the coast and only the trains connect all of the towns, as the mountains are too rugged and treacherous. We rented an apartment and when we checked in, we found out that we had been upgraded to a top floor apartment with views of the marina. Later walking around the town and looking at postcards, we found our terrace on the postcard for Riomaggiore! We opened up the shutters and windows and were lulled to sleep by the sounds of waves crashing on the rocks below. We had a kitchen and we were able to cook a few dinners there, something that was both economical and a lot of fun. Rick Steves would be proud of us, as he highly recommends cooking for yourself and consuming regional specialties. The region around Cinque Terre is known for creating pesto, so we had both red and green pesto with pasta.

The Cinque Terre is also a national park and there are hikes that connect each of the towns. They vary in difficulty from being able to take a baby stroller to some pretty steep climbs. We only hiked to the next two towns and then I took the train back. The first portion of the hike is only supposed to take 20 minutes, but we stopped and took a lot of photos, so it took us much longer.

The world really is a small place because we rounded a bend in the path and found one of our fellow K-Staters from the Orvieto study abroad program watercoloring. We ran into that same group of K-Staters the next day at the beach in Monterosso. We saw that there was someone swimming in the freezing cold Mediterranean and wondered what crazy person would be out there only to realize that we knew him!

The sunsets were very beautiful and we were able to sit on our terrace and soak up a few rays. I really am a fan of Italian shutters. They allow air to come into the room but keep a lot of the light out, allowing for privacy. Shutters also create a sense of life for a building facade, as the shutters are almost never in the same position.

The towns of the Cinque Terre are very colorful. The boats and the buildings are in much brighter hues than in Castiglion Fiorentino. The color of the water also changed greatly depending on the light, from bright blue to a deep blue to a shade of grey.

We ended our Spring Break with a few days in Florence. We took that time to get to know some of the backways of the city. We also climbed the dome of the Duomo. I am not really claustrophobic or afraid of heights, but the climb up and down is not one that I would want to do on a daily basis. We were in Florence for the Spring Equinox and met our History of Science professor, Giovanni, to witness the Equinox at the church Santa Maria Novella. The cosmographer of Cosimi de Medici set up a series of solar experiments to more accurately determine time. He discovered that the Julian calendar was off by 12 seconds a year, which adds up over the course of 1,000 years. Thus, the Gregorian calendar was implemented.

Our last night in Florence we went to a restaurant recommended by our hotel called Trattoria il Trebbio. It was the best meal that I have had while in Italy. It took us over two hours to eat it, as the service is conveniently slow. I ordered gorgonzola ravioli and was stuffed by the time that my pork steaks arrived. It was a family run affair and a bit of a one man show. The maitre'd was seating people, taking reservations, taking orders and serving food. We were seated right away and only a few minutes later they were telling people it would be an hour wait. We were pleased to see that local Florentines were eating at this restaurant, unlike all of the other tourist traps that we had been to before. As we got our bill, I was going to tell the maitre'd how great everything was. I got out, "This was the best..." before he wrapped his arms around me and plopped two fat kisses on either of my cheeks. Rather red in the face, I realized that the poor man had been running around and was glad that somebody appreciated his hard work. I will definitely be going back.

We had many wonderful adventures and learned a lot by trial and error. I feel more prepared for my aftertravels when I will be leaving Italy for other parts of Europe. However, we were very glad to arrive back "home" at Sta. Chiara. I also gained a new appreciation for my country and the freedoms and liberties that I have taken for granted.