Ciao from the Italy group!

All went well on the beautiful Amalfi coast.  Our bus driver Rosario was very competent and sweet, navigating the bus confidently through narrow streets and hair-raising turns.  He even dropped us off right in front of our hotel in Siena, and you alums of the Italy trip know how difficult that is!

An excellent four-course dinner at the Tramonto D'Oro fortified the group for the climb up Mt. Vesuvius the next day, and we got some wonderful pictures of students and leaders on the edge of the volcano's crater.

We managed to find colorful and very entertaining guides for Herculaneum and Pompeii and to visit  the "Secret Cabinet" at the archeological museum in Naples — those Romans certainly weren't inhibited!

The boat trip to Capri was energizing — all blue sky and spraying water.  The students found lots of things to do on Capri, from going to the beach to climbing the highest peak in Anacapri — go Nate!

On our way to Siena, we toured the underground caves carved by the Etruscans in Orvieto, where we learned that raising pigeons can keep a city from starving during a siege.  As our guide said, "They feed themselves and always return home."

Today we found out about the effects of "Good and Bad Government" from the frescoes in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena and tried to imagine horses running through the campo during the Palio.

This afternoon, most of the students will climb the 505 steps of the Torre dei Mangia.  Tomorrow, it's off to San Gimignano and a vist to the Il Lebbio vineyards.

Arrivederci!

— Deborah Campbell

P. S. Photos to follow.