Falling in love with Italy... one city at a time!

Ciao friends! We have been here now for 4 days and it has been nothing but fun, interesting, and... already the best experience EVER! :)

On Wednesday morning we started class, where we went over our syllabus and were introduced to the overall program by Maurizio. After class, Maurizio gave us a tour of the Chigi Garden aka our backyard!! It is absolutely beautiful!

The back of Chigi. Our room is at the bottom right!

Jamie & Brittany

Baby Orange Trees :)  

The ruins of their bird cage! It's huge!

We finished off the day by going to the local supermarket! It was a challenge picking groceries since all of the labels are in Italian but we bought stuff to make lunches in our kitchen and lots of snacks! aka tryinggg to save money!


Thursday was our first field trip and my favorite day so far! :)
Cinzia gave us a tour of the small towns in the Castelli Romani area [Roman Hills]. Our first stop of the day was Montecavo... where we took a hike to the highest point in the area. From the top we could see all of the surrounding towns, lakes, and the Palace! The view was unreal.

You can see all the way to the Mediterranean!

The group!

Random shrine to Mary?

Rock with a face! haha

Next we went over to Frascati... and I LOVED it! Frascati has a beautiful square and so many neat shops! They also have '3 breasted women cookies' which are popular... they say that 2 are for milk and the third is for wine :)

The cookies!

Brittany and her cookie!

Some more pictures from Frascati...

Yum!

Beautiful Church

matching dog and owner ha

Roommates by the fountain!

Rae!

Next, we quickly stopped in Grottaferrata to see the beautiful Abbey of St. Nilo.

Our fourth stop was Nemi! 
For our first class assignment we were each given either a town or site to be the "Expert of the Day" of for when we go there. My first topic was Nemi so I researched it the night before and told everyone what I had learned before we went exploring. Easy, fun grade! I know you are curious so here are a few facts... Nemi is famous for its delicious strawberries! They are really small and really sweet :)

Baby Nemi strawberries :)

Nemi also has a famous lake, Lake Nemi... imagine that! Roman Ships were bombed in the lake and in 1927 it was drained in order to get the remains out... most of the artifacts are in world museums! :)

Lake Nemi (volcanic crater)

Britt & Britt

Farms around lake where strawberries are grown!

We also ate lunch in Nemi at this hidden restaurant that overlooks the lake. It was so pretty! I can't even imagine what it would be like at sunset!... Can you say perfect date? :)

the restaurant!

 my yummy tortellini!

Oh, hey God! (You can see the sun reflecting off the Med. Sea in the distance!)

The final stop was in Castel Gandolfo where the Pope's summer home is! We were only there long enough to see his home and church next door... oh and for most girls to buy scarves!! Unfortunately, I left my wallet in the bus so I was unable to get one but they were only 5 euro and so pretty! Good thing there will be many more scarves to buy :)

Pope's Summer Home!

Cute scarf shops on left of it 

the first mailbox EVER!

I love every church I see!!

...and of course surpporting my girl, Linds, if you hadn't already noticed from other pics! Too bad it isn't summer... I would totally go ask the Pope to vote and help Raise the Roof :)

VOTE LINDSEY GILLEN for MISS AUBURN :)

Today, Friday, we got a tour of the 1st floor of the Chigi Palace by Francesco Petrucci [the Director of the Palace, one of our professors, and an Art Historian/Restorer known worldwide!] The 1st floor holds the actual bedrooms of the Chigi's and a few other rooms. I am still blown away by the fact that I am actually living in a Palace once owned by the very powerful Chigi family!!

the "summer" dinner room

Hard to tell from pic, but that's LEATHER on the walls! 

Love this wallpaper.

This is the last actual Chigi, Augustine. His mother was American [from Georgia!] and her maiden name is Berry, from Berry College in Rome, Ga, which her family founded! haha Ironic and so cool! Smallll world.

the 'pink room' 

Pics of Chigi Daughters

what they used to press the leather on the walls in the rooms!  

This is the link to the Chigi Palace-- it even has a tab for "The Campus" which means Auburn's study abroad program! Pretty neat.

http://www.palazzochigiariccia.it/english/palace/index.htm

Lastly, we walked to another neighboring town, Genzano, for the evening. It is a fun town with a lot more shopping and dining than Ariccia.

Love these trees on the walk :)

Just some trendy teens haha

Genzano!

As much as I am LOVING visiting all of these small towns outside of Rome I am SO pumped about finally going into Rome tomorrow for the day! The last time I was there was 7 years ago! and even though I do not remember a lot about my last trip to Italy, I do remember loving Rome so I am happy to be returning!!

Sorry this was ridiculously long, I need to learn how to become a brief blogger! :)

Miss you all! 

xoxo

Britt

P.s. VOTE FOR LINDSEY GILLEN for MISS AUBURN on FEB 8th!!!! She is "Raising the Roof" for the foster kids at Big House in Opelika! and it doesn't get much better than that. Check it out--- http://www.ourbighouse.org/ !!

Peace, love, and LG :)