Il Mio Viaggio a Nord Italia

This past week we had our group trip to Northern Italy.  This is the 5-day equivalent to our Southern Italy trip last semester, during which we visit historic cities and learn about the art, architecture, history, and culture of the area from two of the professors who work for the program, Dr. Hansen (Archaeology) and Dr. Economopolous (Art History).  Last semester we focused on ancient Roman history, so the museums and ruins we visited in southern Italy corresponded with that.  Similarly, this semester, we focused on the Renaissance, much of which is present in the northern section of Italy.  If you can imagine a bus full of 31 Saint Mary’s students, 2 professors, and 1 taskmaster program director (think Ms. Ungermeyer from The Lizzie McGuire movie and you’ll sorta get an idea of Dr. Prebys), that’s pretty much what it was.  As any big group trip would be, the week was characterized by long bus rides, early mornings, too many church tours to count, and the all-too-often commands of Dr. Prebys telling us to “promptly disembark the motorcoach.”  Dr. Prebys founded the Saint Mary’s Rome program and has been leading it for over 40 years, so let’s just say her jargon is a tad outdated!  Aside from the formalities of reporting to certain places at certain times and following the program schedule rather than my own all week, I did actually enjoy experiencing the small towns of northern Italy.  The aim of the group trips is to take us to places we probably wouldn’t travel to on our own, and I must say it does a good job of fulfilling that mission!  In total, we visited six cities in five days: Ferrara, Mantua, Ravenna, Padua, Vicenza, and Bologna (that is, three of Italy’s 20 regions: Emilia Romagna, Lombardia, and Veneto). We saw far too many things to recount in this single post, so here are just a few of the highlights….

Ferrara: This was the town where our hotel was located, so after each long day of touring, we would come back to spend the night here.  On Tuesday (our first day), we visited the historical center of Ferrara, including a tour of the D’Este family castle and the main Cathedral. 

D'Este Castle in Ferrara

Mantua (Mantova in Italian): In Mantova we toured the Palazzo Te, the retreat home for the old ruling family of Mantova, the Gonzaga’s followed by the Basilica of Sant’Andrea.  Each day our two groups switched off between the two lecturers, and during this day we had Dr. Hansen (who is secretly my favorite of the two!), which made me appreciate the Palace.  For example, she helped us see various architectural patterns in the building’s construction that I honestly would have walked right past, had I not been forced to stop and really look.  The Palazzo Te was completely built and decorated (inside and out) by an architect by the name of Giulio Romano, a pupil of Raphael.  The interesting thing about it is how Romano managed to play with the architectural knowledge at the time to create a combined palace/villa look and feel.

Palazzo Te

Ravenna: The highlights of Ravenna were definitely the breathtaking mosaics in the three main churches we visited: Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, and San Vitale.  On the outside, these churches look very plain and extremely different from any churches in Rome, but when you enter, they are anything but plain.  Contrary to my prior belief, the glass mosaic tiles are not all laid flat, but rather arranged at specific angles to perfectly reflect the light at different times of day.  Crazy!

Sant'Apollinare in Classe

Sant'Apollinare Nuovo

San Vitale

San Vitale from the outside

Padua (Padova in Italian): Next to Bologna, probably my favorite city of the trip.  Unfortunately, we only spent half a day here, but the weather was beautiful (it had been a little chilly in the previous three places), and I really enjoyed walking around the historical center because it reminded of Venice.  Rightly so because Venice is only about an hour away, and historically Padova was under Venetian rule.  One cool part of the visit was seeing Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel, the Sistine Chapel’s counterpart in Padova, but gorgeous in its own right.  It is relatively small and is frescoed floor to ceiling, therefore, only 15 people can enter at a time, and everyone must be clear of debris and dirt from the outside air.  Everything is timed like clockwork, so while the first half of the group saw the chapel, the rest of us were in a “de-dusting” room watching a video about the chapel before we could be let in.  Once inside, we had a short 20 minutes to take it all in, but because of the sheer detail of this place, 20 hours wouldn’t have even been enough!  Each section corresponds to Scripture, beginning with Mary’s conception, birth, and life, and continuing on to the life of Jesus.  You just stand inside this chapel and keep turning your body to essentially “read” the story as it progresses in painted form across the walls.  Like the Sistine Chapel, painted on the back wall is the popular religious subject The Last Judgement, depicting the glory of heaven on Jesus’ right and the fiery, gory depths of hell on his left.  Wish I could have taken pictures inside, but definitely look it up for yourself if you are interested! 

Fruit and vegetable markets in Padova

Also in Padova we visited the Basilica dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padova (often known as the Patron Saint of lost things).  Inside the basilica is his tomb as well as parts of his body known to be uncorrupted—his jaw with teeth intact, tongue, and vocal chords.  How appropriate for Saint Anthony considering the fact that he lived his whole life filled with the Spirit, and unable to stop talking about God. 

Basilica of Saint Anthony

Dante's tomb is actually also in Padova because he was exiled to live there from his hometown of Florence

Vicenza: We were only in Vicenza for a couple hours, but we got to see the Teatro Olympico, a fully intact Renaissance theatre that is still used today, as well as the buildings in the historical center constructed by the Renaissance architect Palladino.

Teatro Olympico

Bologna: Definitely the largest and liveliest of the towns we visited, Bologna was filled with young people. This made sense because Bologna is the location of the first and oldest Italian university.  It is known as the city of many porticos (covered walkways along the streets lined with stores and restaurants), so you can literally walk for miles under a covered roof.  Very unique to this city.  As a group we toured a few churches; by that point we were all a little “churched-out,” and one seemed to blend into the next.  It was a nice break to have a solid 3 and a half hours to explore the city on our own, sample Bolognese cuisine, and visit the fruit and vegetable markets. 

Portici di Bologna

Another highlight of the week in general was the FOOD!  It definitely topped Southern Italy (although the pizza in Naples was pretty darn good).  I love trying different types of pasta filled with various things (ricotta and nuts, pear, etc) as well as with various sauces (carrot, pistachio, etc), and Northern Italy was the place to do just that!  In Rome, you find a lot of the same (all very good of course), but it’s mostly the traditional pastas (pesto, ragù, carbonara, marinara).  I just loved the local flavor that the smaller towns seemed to offer in terms of their dishes.  My favorite by far was the cappellacci di zucca (pumpkin-filled tortellini), because for those of you that don’t already know, I’m kinda obsessed with anything pumpkin flavored.  Mom—we are making these when I get home!!  All the pasticcerie (bakeries) sold the handmade pasta, and it was on almost every menu in each of the six towns we visited.  The interesting thing is that each town gives a local touch to the same dish, so some of the cappellacci were sweeter than others.  The sweet pumpkin ones literally tasted like dessert…my mouth is watering just thinking about them!  In Mantova I also had a creamy delicious risotto with Mantovian sausage…yet another dish to write home about!  Can you tell the food was one of my favorite parts of the whole week?!

Yummmm

Late in the afternoon on Saturday we “boarded the motorcoach” for our 5-6 hour drive back to Rome.  Like we did on the way north, we drove through the snow-covered Appenine Mountains which run through central Italy, all the while, some of us sleeping, others (attempting) to do homework.  The ride seemed rather uneventful until a large bus full of college-age boys pulled up alongside ours, and at least 25 guys were mooning all of us from windows!  Needless to say, girly screams ensued as did horror and shock from Dr. Prebys!  She then proceeded to give us a whole lecture on how un-funny the situation (which was clearly an immature joke on the part of the guy students) was and how guys like that end up mistreating women and contribute to the violence against women problem in Italy!  She asked if any of us had taken pictures of the “mooners” so that she could add them to the police report she plans to file!  I’m telling you, this is one interesting lady! Haha.

View of the Appenines from the bus

All in all, the trip was a success, but I can easily say that it was a relief to get back to Rome.  It’s crazy how much I missed it just being away for five days!  I suppose Rome is where the heart is! :)