Fifteen students and six adults from JPII traveled throughout Northern Italy, April 7 to 17. Our journey began at the Saskatoon airport where there were four students among us who experienced their first airplane ride! We had four flights that eventually took us to Milan where we met our travel mates from Ohio and California and boarded our coach and traveled to Venice.
Our first full day in Italy had us traveling by boat to Murano Island to learn about glass making. From there we boated to Venice where we had a walking tour of Venice as there are no motorized land vehicles or driving roads in the city! This city is located on over 100 islands separated by canals and joined by bridges. We saw the Doge's Palace, Basilica San Marco, Ponte Rialto, Piazza San Marco and Bridge of Sighs. We enjoyed a gondola ride that took us along many of the canals and under many, many bridges.
From Venice we traveled to Ravenna to view the early Christian mosaic murals inside the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and St. Vitale Cathedral. From there we headed to Montecatini, which was our launching place for Pisa and Florence. In Pisa we were all a bit "unbalanced" as we viewed the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. We also toured the Pisa Cathedral and Baptistry. We then traveled to Florence where we toured around the old city. Highlights in Florence were the Duomo, Basilica di Santa Croce and Ponte Vecchio.
Our next stop was at Cinque Terre. This "Five Lands" area of Italy is really five villages situated in the Italian Riviera. We took a train to Riomaggiore, the first village and walked along the ocean cliff path to the second village, Manarola. From there we took a train to Vernazza, the fourth village. This village was devastated by catastrophic mudslides in October, 2011. The village was buried under three metres of mud and is just now beginning the repair of the buildings. It was quite overwhelming to see the powerful destruction caused by nature. Our final village was Monterosso where we enjoyed the views, shops and food. It too was damaged by the mud slides but not as severely.
Lake Como was our next stop and we all enjoyed a boat cruise on the lake as we were wowed by the homes of the "rich and famous" of the world. We then traveled to Milan where we caught the train to Rome, our final Italian destination.
Rome welcomed us with bright sunshine and blue skies. We started our time there, touring some ancient catacombs. These catacombs were dug in the 5th to 7th centuries and were the burying grounds for about 40,000 Christians and Jews. We were able to see the many layers of the crypts and a number of mosaics and paintings on the walls. We headed into central Rome where we explored many a shop and café. We were all amazed at the number of fountains we saw in every square. We toured the ancient Pantheon which is now a Roman Catholic Basilica. We also climbed the famous Spanish Steps. Once it got dark we had a Rome by Night tour where we saw the major landmarks all lit up. The Vatican and the Roman Coliseum were amazing at night. We all tossed our pennies into the Trevi Fountain that night!
On our second day we had a morning tour of The Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square. We were all blown away by the size and beauty of these places. The only word to describe the Sistine Chapel is WOW! St. Peter's Basilica was huge with art and sculpture everywhere. We even saw the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle for whom the Basilica is named. Outside, the Swiss guards gave us a chuckle in their brightly colored "costumes".
Our afternoon saw us touring the ancient sights of Rome, the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. To see the Coliseum is amazing. It is just so huge! We were able to explore inside for a while and climb to upper levels to get better views. Next to the Coliseum is the Roman Forum. The Forum was the marketplace and business district of Ancient Rome. Today, there are several arches and columns still standing. Most of the Forum though is in ruins. We were able to walk the cobblestones of the Forum and even climb on some of the ruins.
Nine days in Italy are not nearly enough to really appreciate this great country. We were able to meet some local people who were all very friendly. We enjoyed all the wonderful Italian food, especially the pasta and pizza! We all feel we got a brief "taste" of the culture and are anxious to return. This was truly a great trip with great students.
