Travelling south

Ciao a tutti e saluti da Sorrento!
With sunny blue skies and sparkling blue water, we have spent the past two days enjoying Italy's south. To recap though, our last day of classes in Rome involved the usual lessons in the morning, followed by lunch and a visit to a local bar, and then a seminar on Italy's second language - the use of gestures. After this, the director at Torre di Babele presented everyone with certificates and then there was a chance to go shopping before we left the city. After enjoying our last night eating in the hotel's restaurant with our newly adopted nonna and the delights of packing, we set off for Pompeii early the next morning.
Once in Pompeii we met our guide Livia who showed us some of the main highlights of Italy's biggest museum, including some impromptu singing from Giselle to illustrate the acoustics of the opera theatre there, as well as the take-away food and wine stalls, the gladiators' gym, the house of a very wealthy merchant, the forum and agora, and finally, some of the body casts. Our visit through the streets of the Roman city, over the pedestrian crossings and amongst the crowds was, as ever, overshadowed by the looming presence of Vesuvius. It's hard to imagine that such a picturesque setting can hide such a lurking danger.
After lunch where more shopping took place, we got back on the bus and headed to Sorrento, about an hour's drive away due to the crazy traffic. Our hotel here is just beautiful, set amidst lush gardens and lemon groves, with views out over the Bay of Naples. I think it's safe to say we've all liked it here.
Today we've wandered the little streets of Sorrento, browsing the shops selling Limoncello and savouring some local buffalo mozzarella. We checked out the marina and were entertained by a pair of boys frollicking in the clear water, trying the tip each other off a windsurfer. Meanwhile, Ben spent the afternoon with his nonno's relatives, meeting them for the first time. We all met back up for a gelato-making demonstration, where Giselle and Elyssa measured out the ingredients for a refreshing lemon gelato and Lizette managed to extract our gelato from the mixer without spilling any. This tasting was followed by another sample of any two flavours of our choice. Suffice to say, this was a very popular excursion!
Reversing how we usually do things, we then had dinner in a nearby restaurant and returned to the hotel in the twilight to pack up once again before we head north tomorrow morning.

Le avventure romane continuano

Ciao a tutti!
Well, we've had a busy few days. On Wednesday, classes recommenced in the morning and lunch at the nearby Casina dei Pini followed before we set off on the Metro to meet Alessandra, our guide to the Colosseum and the Imperial Forum. We were extremely lucky to be able to access the arena from a special gate that brought us in on that level. Because the stage there rests on wooden supports, the number allowed at any one time is restricted so we could linger just long enough to see the underground passages that held the animals, criminals and gladiators as they waited to be brought up. Slaves under the arena floor had to operate forty elevator platforms that could move those about to compete up to the arena as if by magic, while others were responsible for manoeuvering the giant shade sails so that the Emperor didn't get too hot. The place where the Emperor and his entourage sat is marked today with the cross that is used for the Stations of the Cross service that the Pope leads each year. Just the size of the construction is mind-boggling, plus the fact that it only took ten years to build the three circles of arches that connect together to give the amphitheatre its strength. Moving up through the wide hallways, it was easy to envisage the thousands of people who enjoyed the entertainment, with shops set up and food stalls to keep people going as they spent all day there. From the Colosseum we moved to the Forum, past the Arch of Constantine and up the Capitoline Hill for a view over the ruins of temples and basilicas. Again, it's not hard to appreciate the scale of the Roman engineering feats as we marveled at what they were able to do, even though only traces remain today.
From the Forum the group took advantage of an opportunity to buy some souvenirs and enjoy a gelato or two to keep their strength up before we met Giorgia, our next guide, near the square made famous for the temple ruins and number of stray cats who live there. This time we set off for a walk through the small streets of the Jewish Ghetto, with Michelle and I acting as interpreters for the group. Beginning with the square with the Turtle Fountain, we wandered the stradette with their brass plaques set into the cobblestones. Located in front of different buildings, these plaques commemorate the names of the Jewish residents who had lived there before they were all rounded up during World War II and sent to Auschwitz. Another plaque was dedicated just to the newborn children who suffered the same fate. On that sombre note, we left the ghetto after checking out the newly restored temple built by the Emperor Augustus for his sister Octavia, and crossed the Tiber to the island of Tiburtina. Most of the island is taken up with a hospital and legend has it that during the Plague of the 17th century the priests in the monastery on the island set off for Greece to pray at a particular spot for a cure after one of the priests dreamed of the instruction to do so. On their return to the island, a snake leapt off the boat and there were no more Plague deaths. As a result, the hospital was constructed there and the snake is still used to symbolise the medical profession, as seen on ambulances etc. From the island we continued to Trastevere, on the other bank, where we wandered more little streets and visited the Church of St Cecilia, patron of musicians. A late dinner in a pizzeria finished off our tour so we decided to wind our way back to the Trevi to see it at night. This all went well until we arrived back at the Metro station to find that it had just closed for the night, so while Michelle took a small group back in a taxi, the rest of us really did walk the streets of Rome back to the hotel. I know I warned people that we'd do a lot of walking, but I have to admit I didn't envisage that we'd walk quite that far.
Yesterday, everyone was understandably feeling a little tired so luckily it was an easier day. After morning classes with Francesca (and Carmelina, Giselle, and Maria's with a more international group), we had a short siesta before setting off in the light drizzle for the Villa Borghese, a huge estate that was the country residence of the Borghese family. Once again, our guide was Alessandra who showed us the Baroque splendour of the villa, including statues by Bernini and paintings by Caravaggio, Raphael, Botticelli, and Tiziano. It's amazing to think that one family owned all of this, as well as having enough power to influence the papal voting and install one of the sons on the throne. The last owner of the villa married Napoleon's sister, and then in 1903 the estate was sold in its entirety to the Italian Government for the princely sum of $3,000. Even though that would have been a relatively large amount for the time, it was still a bargain. Walking back through the gardens we spotted a squirrel (and a koala if Michelle is to be believed), before returning to the hotel for another delicious dinner in the restaurant and a relatively early night.

What would a visit to Rome be without popping in to the Vatican?

Today is the Festa della Liberazione, the day when Italians celebrate the arrival of Allied forces in World War II. This also meant that there were no lessons at the school - instead we set off for our guided tour of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, led by the chatty Claudio. I think that no matter how many times you can visit somewhere like this, the sheer scale of the place always hits you, especially as you pass room after room of masterpieces. Shuffling along with the crowd, we wound our way through the myriad of buildings, culminating in the Sistine Chapel, where the reverential hush was occasionally broken by orders to move along and keep the silenzio happening. It's always good to learn something new too, like the fact that the ceiling was Michelangelo's first go at painting. After all, he thought of himself as a sculptor and an architect. Almost three hours after we started, we emerged briefly out into the fresh air and blue sky before heading inside Saint Peter's Basilica, where once again we were blown away by the size of the place. We checked out Michangelo's famous Pietà, marvelled at the height of the dome, and touched Saint Peter's foot - well his statue at least. Due to popular demand, we then descended down into the crypt to check out the Papal tombs before emerging once again into the sunshine, via a souvenir shop along the way.
From here we set off towards the Castel Sant'Angelo and across the Tiber towards Piazza Navona.By now we were all a little hungry so we stopped at a little pizza place where some of the girls (Giselle and Natasha to name them) checked out the serving staff and snapped a picture or two. From here we wound our way to Piazza Navona where many school groups seemed to be hanging out, especially watching a troupe of five dancers somersaulting their way across the cobbled stones. I just hope that they raised enough money to pay for their chiropractor visits. Our next stop was the Pantheon with its impressive domed roof and oculus to let in the light, followed by a visit to Michelle's favourite church, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, with its deep blue ceiling covered in gold stars.
By this time, our feet were steaming from the day's stroll around Rome so it was time to head back towards the hotel on the metro before dinner in the restaurant next door and an early night.

Le lezioni cominciano!

Another beautiful spring day greeted us as we set off bright and early for the first day of lessons at the Torre di Babele Language School. After both a written and an oral test, the students were allocated into a class led by their teacher Francesca and the conversations began, including how to ask for help. This was followed by an information session about Rome and then it was time for lunch al fresco at the nearby Casina dei Pini restaurant. Having eaten the traditional Roman dishes, everyone needed a siesta due to the mental exhaustion brought on by concentrating so hard in the lessons. At 3:30 we returned to the school for a seminar on the history of Italian music led by Luigi. Here we discovered the eclectic mix of songs that the students knew, like the 'Tomato' song suggested by Ben and the 1970s retro classics chosen by Giselle. The students also got to listen to a range of different styles, including some interesting past winners of the Sanremo song competiton such as the 'alien' song. With the sun still shining, after the seminar we strolled through the nearby park of Villa Torlonia, which we discovered was requisitioned by Mussolini to use as his residence for the grand sum of one lira a year. Since this meant that the prince whose family owned the estate was forced to move into one of the cottages in the grounds, it seemed a little harsh. After Italy was liberated by the Allies, the villa was then used by Anglo-American forces for several years, and then it fell into disrepair. The state of the park echoes that of many in Rome - with so much history to maintain, it seems an impossible task but the grandeur is still there in the classical symmetry, the fountains, and the obelisks. Even better, the park was full of locals enjoying the sunshine, playing soccer, celebrating birthdays and walking their dogs. By now the students were rather tired, so we returned to the hotel for a short rest before a delicious dinner in the restaurant next door and an early night ready for our big day of walking tomorrow.