My Journal

One of the first places we visited was Siena.  Piazza Del Campo was amazing.  There we saw the area where they do the horse races and the bell tower. While we were there, there was a chocolate festival going on, we got to taste and buy many different types of chocolate. My favorite part was the bell tower, it was very high and I was very scared of the height, especially in the open areas of the tower. Even though I was scared for my life, the view from up there was amazing, we were able to see all of Siena.  Going up was an amazing experience and a workout, with all the stairs, the bell tower in Siena was one of my favorite parts of the trip!

Firenze was another amazing part of my trip; we got to see the David and Ponte Vecchio, we ate some amazing pizza and saw some of the most amazing artwork dating back maybe thousands of years ago, including the face of a dead man made by Michelangelo. The best part about Firenze was seeing my cousins again. Martina, Lucia, Emma, and Milvia were all so happy to see us. We had an amazing day together sightseeing, eating, and spending time with my cousins!

Rome was my favorite part of the trip we saw some amazing architecture like the Coliseum and the Pantheon. There were also several “salumerie” in Rome where we got to pick up some fresh cold cuts. One of my favorite parts of Rome was the Fontana di Trevi.  It was a spectacular fountain. While there we had some delicious “panini”. The funny part was when the poliziotti got mad at us because we were sitting too close to the fountain while eating.  After we ate we had “un delizioso gelato.”

The trip to Paestum in Campania was another very exciting day. This is an amazing ancient Graeco-Roman city. We saw some amazing temples and ruins an many other artifacts  I remember that there was a small roof coming out of the ground. So me, being the curious person that I am, went closer to go check out the roof. Unfortunately I was the only person who got closer, and I didn’t notice that everyone else was trying to get a picture of the roof. So I ended up getting inside everyone’s picture without even noticing. That was a fun day in Paestum. I would love to go there again and see more of the ancient ruins.

Another place with some amazing ancient buildings was Pompeii. The artifacts and people frozen in rock were so amazing. To think that one natural disaster could completely destroy an entire city. My favorite part there was the amazing pizza we ate. It was pizza margherita my favorite pizza.  It was so delicious that I ate my entire pizza and half of Sabrina’s too. I really like Pizza!!

In Paola we went to the monastery of St. Francesco di Paola. While there we saw a giant bomb that landed in the monastery during World War 2.  It  never exploded. During our time there it really poured so we spent the entire time in the gift shop talking with our Zias.   We hadn’t seen them in over six years and it was amazing getting to spend some time with them. I miss them already and can’t wait until I go back to Italy to see them again.

Tropea was fantastic we had some amazing views of the ocean. Me, Joseph, Sabrina, Mr. Lista, Vince, and my dad all walked down the very long staircase and went to see the sea. Even though it was cold we spent some time on the beach, took some pictures and had fun. Unfortunately my ability to avoid waves failed and I got my feet soaked in icy cold salt water, my shoes were very uncomfortable for the rest of the day.

Tropea was an amazing place to visit. I especially like that it was the only hotel that had a pool.

Another great day of the trip was when we went to Taormina. The best part of the trip were the amazing arancini that we ate on the boat ride. They were so delicious that we ended up buying one on the way there and another on the way back. Taromina was an amazing place while there we saw an ancient Graeco-Roman theater were they were filming a Bollywood video. After seeing the theater I was very thirsty so I went to the nearest fountain to get a drink.  Unfortunately my accuracy was not to good and I got water all over my shirt. This was one of the funnest days of our trip.

The last place we visited was Serra San Bruno while we were there we saw the monastery of Serra San Bruno and we also got a chance to learn about Italian culture. We saw what their cities were like, the food, living space, music, dance, it was an amazing learning experience, but also a lot of fun. My favorite part about Serra San Bruno was the amazing bakery down the street from our hotel. While there me and Joseph had a lot of Cannoli and a lot of espressos. I would go back there just to get so more of those Cannoli!