Firenze!
Published on 10/11/16
The town of the infamous Medici family, world renowned Uffizi Art Gallery and Nazi-defying Ponte Vecchio. Although the beginning of our trip was not perfect, thanks to the well-timed Italian air-strike - our baggage was hostage in Pisa for about 7 hours. Our first day ended with the ultimate reunion of our bags along with the sainthood of Miss Cresswell; who had fought long and hard for our precious belongings! Our next three days was packed full with excursions including church crawls, intense Italian lessons, museum visits and many, many gelato breaks. An all-round favourite was the Gucci Museum which contained fabulous shoes, dresses and of course, refreshments in our main rendez-vous on the Piazza della Signoria. The Basilica di Santa-Croce amazed each and every one of us as we went from tomb to tomb gazing upon the final resting places of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Rossini and many more impressive names.
Our artistic sides were all brought out and refined by the awe-inspiring visit to Michelangelo's 17ft David. As we sat around him, sketching the 500 year old symbol of Florence in wonder, we knew our trip was a unique experience; spending four days in a country as rich with culture as Italy is always a beautiful experience. Our final day in Italy was spent wondering through the picturesque alleyways of Sienna, and visiting one last church : the Duomo of Sienna. Is there any better way to spend our last day absorbing Italian architecture, art, culture, sun and gelato?
All in all, thank you to all the teachers that came with us; Mr Pompeo for providing us with Latin translations when we were lost in the church, Mr Keeble for being an all-round hub of knowledge on anything concerning art, no matter how tenuous the link! Thank you Mrs Keeble for always having nuggets of information at the ready, and of course - (Saint) Cresswell for saving our luggage!
- Dasha Scanlan Oumow