On the way back to Montefiascone from Orvieto, we took a short detour in order to visit Civita di Bagnoregio. A tiny little medieval town, Civita di Bagnoregio is perched upon a plateau of tuff (a not entirely stable rock formed from volcanic ash). The plateau has been slowly crumbling for years, and many buildings in the town are in danger of sliding off. Civita was originally a part of the town of Bagnoregio, but due to erosion of the plateau, it is now connected by only a narrow footpath.
The sun was setting when we arrived, and our view of the town from across the ravine was really very striking and beautiful. Since it was so late, we didn't actually venture into the town, although I wish we had. Despite being called the "Dying City," there are still residents in Civita, although certainly not many (approximately 15!).
I first visited Orvieto in the fall of 2000. The trip was accidental - I was planning to visit some friends in some random tiny Tuscan town, but alas, I hopped on the wrong train when I boarded in Camucia. I figured out I was heading the wrong way around the time the train stopped in Orvieto, so I thought, what the heck, I'll go visit Orvieto instead. So, I took the funicular (inclined railway - Orvieto is built on a plateau) up to town, and spent the afternoon exploring.
My second, and this time - planned, visit to Orvieto was in the fall of 2005, during my stay in Montefiascone. One of the professors at the school drove a group of us there for an afternoon visit. The approach to Orvieto by car is much more stunning than by train - as we rounded a curve and came over the top of the hill, we were treated to a spectacular view of the city.
To reach the town, our car traversed the winding roads up the side of the cliffs, until at last we reached the top. Once there, we visited the Duomo (a gothic cathedral, similar to the one in Siena), strolled through the gardens, enjoyed some gelato, and browsed the many local handicraft shops.
I came to Montefiascone in the summer of 2005; I was really needing a change of pace in life, so I enrolled in two week-long summer courses offered there at the School of Conservation and Preservation. At that time, I was still interested in going into book conservation, so I thought this would be a good opportunity for me. The first course was in medieval manuscript pigments (we ground up a lot of our own pigments using raw materials and even made some lakes), and the second was in medieval album bindings.
Since that experience, I've decided I prefer the field of archives to that of preservation, but my time in Montefiascone was still a good experience. The town is beautiful and sits atop a hill overlooking the Lago Bolsena. Since classes were only in the mornings, I often took the bus down to the crystal-clear lake and lounged around in the afternoons. During one of the weeks, Montefiascone was holding its yearly wine festival EST! EST! ESTE! (obviously I partook in the festival offerings), and I also spent a lot of evenings at the various restaurants enjoying the local cuisine with the rest of the my classmates (a very international group). All in all, it was a relaxing time and a much needed escape from everyday life.
My friend Hans and I went to Pisa towards the end of our semester abroad in Florence. Pisa wasn't too far away, so we hopped on a train one afternoon. When we arrived at the station in Pisa, we had to walk through the entire town to reach the Piazza del Duomo, in which the Leaning Tower stands. The town was quite a bit bigger than I realized, and quite pretty (but what Italian town isn't?). The entire walk was pretty quiet - the streets seemed deserted - but once we arrived at the Piazza, there were people everywhere!
My Italian friends had mentioned that when they were younger, it had been possible to climb the tower, but when we visited, this unfortunately wasn't the case. The tower had been leaning a bit too much, I suppose, so it was reinforced with cables and closed to the public. (The tower actually reopened to the public in December of that year, so we just missed being able to climb it.)
The first time I went to Fiesole was with an Italian friend to an Irish bar there. All I remember was the Harp's Strong I drank (a wickedly strong beer, which is probably why that's all I remember!). The second time was with a friend from school, Hans. We went there just to wander around the town and to take photographs; Fiesole is located on a hillside overlooking Florence, so the views are very picturesque.
I went to Carnevale in early 2001, and it was one definitely one of my most memorable experiences of all times. Venice was so crowded that we had to stay in a hotel outside the city and take the train in every morning. The streets of Venice are narrow to begin with, and with all of the people that come to Carnevale, much of the time is spent in a dead standstill. Normally the walk from the Station to San Marco takes 20-30 minutes, but I remember that walk took around 4 hours! And it was freezing cold!! But despite all that, I loved it! I had been to Venice just a few months beforehand, so I could enjoy the festivities instead of concentrating on seeing the sights. Lots of people came masked and in costume - very elaborate, colorful, and beautiful! Shannon and I bought masks of our own (which I still have), and Jodie and I had our faces painted one day. The party goes all day and all night during Carnevale, with lots of street performers during the day, and spectacular performances in San Marco Square at night. Nearly every piazza has something going on in it. We didn't get to see any of the famed Venetian masked balls - those are pretty exclusive and generally invitation-only, but the streets of Venice were amazing enough!
My first trip to Venice was at the very end of my first semester abroad, in November of 2000. Venice is a very beautiful city, and despite the very chilly weather, we spent a lot of time exploring. In fact, our hotel was towards the outskirts of Venice, so we had to traverse the streets in order to get to San Marco Square, the main piazza. Emilie and I got lost more than once! The streets are narrow and winding, and of course, there are no roads there, just pathways and bridges linking the numerous tiny islands. We took the water taxi several times, which is often more efficient than navigating the confusing streets. Aside from the beautiful sights, I loved browsing the shops of Venice, both for the fantastic costumes and masks they sold, as well as for the chance to warm my toes! One of the mask shops we visited had made the masks for the movie Eyes Wide Shut. Kate, Emilie and I also took a ferry out to Murano, the island famous for glass-blowing, where I bought some beautiful glass pieces. Of course, the time in Venice was a little bittersweet for me, because it marked the end of a great semester!
