Travel Course: Italy

May 2019

In May of 2019, the day after the spring semester graduation, Professor Phillip Waite and LAEP staff member Tanya Rice, led a group of students to Rome, Italy for the start of the 2019 Travel Course.

Their Italian adventure started with two days of sightseeing in Rome where they explored historic architecture as well as Renaissance and modern public urban spaces. The following day they spent in Tivioli, 30 kilometers east of Rome, where they experienced the exemplary 16th Italian garden at the Villa d’Este as well as the ruins of Hadrian’s villa constructed around 125AD. There followed two days visiting the hill towns of Tuscany including Caprarola, Bagnala, Bomarzo, Orvieto, and Siena. These days were jam-packed with visits to Villa Farnese (Caprarola), Villa Lante (Bagnala), and Mostri Park (Bomarzo).

The interstitial moments were definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip, which surprised me. I like to get from point A to point B, but in Italy there was so much to take in between destinations. From architecture to music or people interacting on the street, there were a lot of small moments that stood out to me as we walked by.

-- Helen Lea, BLA 2020

Students at the Colosseum

In Orvieto, one of Italy’s best-preserved medieval hill towns, the students visited the Italian Gothic masterpiece of the 14th century, Duomo (cathedral) of Orvieto. Also when in Orvieto the students took in an underground catacomb tour as well as a tour of Saint Patrick’s Well (16thc.), a nearly 200’ deep well with a stepped ramp in the shape of a double helix that allowed donkeys to carry barrels of water up to the surface without interacting with the donkeys carrying empty barrels down to the water level.

In Siena, the students had dinner on the Campo, one of the quintessential urban plazas of the world, and explored the winding streets and alleys of this medieval town.

Being swallowed at Mostri Park, Bomarzo

Helen Lea sketches the Campidoglio

Students then traveled by train to Florence where for three days they explored the Boboli Gardens, the Ponte Vecchio, Brunelleschi’s Duomo, and the Palazzo Vecchio, not to mention the world-famous art by Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Ghiberti and eating world-famous Italian cuisine! After taking a high-speed (150 MPH+) train back to Rome, the class visited the Vatican, taking in the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter’s Basilica and Square.

Students at Castel St. Angelo

The 2019 LAEP Travel Course was a success by any measure, providing our students with not only an education but also the memories of a lifetime!

One of the most eye-opening lessons I learned was just the history and age of these landscapes. None of our typical landscapes in America even come close to the age of those we saw in Rome and Florence. Our historic districts date back to the 1700s, but in Rome it goes all the way to back to BC. That’s an unfathomable amount of time, and it really impressed me.

-- Helen Lea, BLA 2020

Villa Farnese in the fog