Southern Field Trip and the End of the Semester

This is the final installment of me writing about my study abroad experience, hope you enjoy.

March 21-27th:

Started off Monday by trying out figure drawing for the first time in drawing class. It was a pretty fun experience and a change of pace compared to drawing buildings out in the field. Wednesday we had an Urban Studies walk around the Spanish Steps and Piazza Navona.

Friday we had a Rome as Spectacle tour which covered Chiesa del Gesù, the apartment of St. Ignatius next door, Sant’Andrea della Valle, and Sant Ignazio (which has a neat illusionistic painted dome). Then in the afternoon had yet another walking tour, this one about Medieval sites in Rome for Urban Studies (a little bit redundant with the other medieval walk we had previously with a different professor).

Saturday I finally went out and sent the postcards I’d been racking up during the first part of the semester. To kill two birds with one stone I went to the Palazzo delle Poste designed by Adalberto Libera, which was mentioned in one of our Modern Italian Architecture lectures.

March 28- April 3rd:

Started the week with a walk about Caravaggio and seeing several works of his in churches and in a gallery, such as his three St. Matthew paintings, The Madonna of Loreto, Penitent Magdalene, and Rest on the Flight into Egypt. Had an introductory session the next day about the upcoming Southern field trip- learned that unfortunately we wouldn’t be going to either Naples or Pompeii (gah, if I knew sooner I would have tried to go during Spring Break).

Day 1: The Southern field trip kicked off on Friday, leaving Rome around 7am and heading to Paestum, arriving around noon. We went to the Archaeological Park of Paestum which has a number of Greek temples as well as a museum which houses the “Tomb of the Diver” fresco. Unfortunately it started pouring which made it a bit difficult to fully appreciate the temples and draw them (and take photos hah).

Afterwards we ate at Tempio Azienda Agricola- a water buffalo farm and restaurant. Had buffalo mozzarella as an appetizer, and a sample of water buffalo salami, alongside the main pasta dish. Also got to go out and see the water buffalo themselves.

Although we weren’t able to visit, we drove past and saw pretty great views of the Amalfi coast, Naples, and Mt. Vesuvius. Still lots of rain and fog though.

The first leg of our journey involved boarding a boat- getting our assigned cabins at around 7pm. I’ve never been on a cruise or slept on a boat before so this was all an experience in of itself. The cabins were tiny, had bunkbeds, but luckily had private bathrooms. No windows though, or wi-fi/cell signal, so you were quite literally in the dark and hoping that you weren’t missing any important messages from the group chat.

Spent most of the evening walking around the outside deck, which provided some really pretty views of the sunset. Had dinner from the little cafeteria area, not too bad.

Day 2: Luckily I don’t think I suffer from motion sickness, but the rocking of the boat all night in the tiny dark windowless room did get a bit disorienting and didn’t provide me with the best sleep. Watched the last half of the sunrise on the outside deck, and after a delay we got off the boat around 9am.

Started off the day in Palermo, first visiting the Palazzo Abatellis which was redesigned by Carlo Scarpa. Nice as always to see his museum designs.

Then we stopped by the Oratorio di San Lorenzo, Chiesa di San Cataldo, and Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio. Ended the morning by seeing the Fontana Pretoria and Quattro Canti. Went to a street market for lunch- had a really good assortment of fried and seasoned vegetables and meats.

Afterwards, we went to see the Palatine Chapel and the Monreale Cathedral, both of which were covered in golden, glistening mosaics from top to bottom. I was able to go on the roof of the Cathedral and see a great view, before it started raining again that is.

A relatively short hour and a half bus ride later and we arrived at our nice oceanside Selinunte hotel, kind of our home base for the next couple days.

Day 3- Took the bus to Gibellina, the town that was struck by an earthquake in 1968 and destroyed as a result. The town’s layout of streets have become immortalized in concrete (or, as immortal as concrete can be) in a largescale monument to the townspeople lost in the disaster. It is a really humbling experience to walk along where the streets used to be and see the monument contrast with the surrounding green hills.

Afterwards we went to Gibellina Nuova, which was the rebuilding of the town at a nearby location. It was an interesting, somewhat apocalyptic-feeling, place to be. The grandiose, large scale urban and architectural projects have largely sat unfinished or in disuse, and seem kind of disjointed between one another.

Around 1:30pm we made it to Segesta. It was a more like a hot 1 mile walk (1250 meters to be specific) up the hill than a short stroll, a fact that they didn’t really tell us so we weren’t quite prepared. The area was gorgeous though, with wildflowers and pretty valleys. We were lucky that the weather decided to clear up. Of course had to put the theater to use and do some line dancing.

On the way back to the hotel in Selinunte we made a pit stop to do a little wine tasting, in this case it sounds fancier than it was. It was a local wine shop with lil plastic cups trying 3 types of wine, alongside some olives and olive oil. At least I can pretend it was fancy and say ~ I’ve been wine tasting in Italy~ now.

April 4-10th:

Day 4- Went to see the cloudy sunrise on the beach around 6:30am, dipped my feet in.

Finally visited the Selinunte archeological site around 9am, which was a short walk from the hotel. It was a very long walk up to the acropolis but there was a great view of the ocean and similarly to Segesta, it was neat to see the remains of temples surrounded by wildflowers.

Checked out of the hotel after lunch, around 2pm, and went on a long drive to Siracusa. Saw Mt. Etna from the bus, one of the biggest and most active volcanoes in Europe. Arrived to our hotel closer to 8:45pm (instead of the 7:30 estimated arrival time, thanks to road construction). As such, a majority of restaurants seemed to be closed, but we were able to find something that was open, and finally secure some cannoli (since they originated from Sicily, should probably at least try one while we’re here). The hotel by the way was very cool, renovated apartment units which meant that each room was different, but ours had a nice kitchenette including a washing machine (not that we’d be there long enough to utilize it) and 2 balconies facing into a courtyard.

Day 5- Spent the morning in Siracusa, taking a short walking tour to see the Tempio di Apollo and Arethusa Spring, before breaking off by ourselves. Saw the outside of Castello Maniace, went to a couple shops, and bought a freshly made Ragu Arancina (arancino?), very good. I really enjoyed walking around, they have such narrow but clean streets.

At 12 we met up at the hotel before loading up the bus and heading to the nearby Orecchio di Dionisi (a carved limestone cave) and a Greek theater which unfortunately seemed to be under construction of some kind (I think to add on some modern seating).

After taking a much shorter ferry ride to the mainland, we reached Reggio Calabria around 6pm. We visited their archeological museum and drew the Riace bronzes- two of the few remaining Greek bronze sculptures because the majority of them were melted down. Afterwards had dinner and tried the gelato place my Italian professor recommended.

Day 6- Bright and early at 8am we were on the bus again, this time to Matera. We arrived around 3pm. Before this trip I don’t think I had ever heard of Matera, but rightfully it has been named both a UNESCO World Heritage site and a European Capital of Culture, specifically the historic part of town called i Sassi (literally “the stones”). The town is comprised of cave dwellings carved out by hand thousands of years ago and occupied up until the 1950’s (when the Italian government forced them out of their homes, but I won’t get into that). All of that to say it was a really cool place to see and experience. Our hotel was even comprised of renovated cave dwellings, so each room was unique.

As a class we went around i Sassi for a bit, including a museum which had a recreation of what the interiors of the cave dwellings looked like when they were last inhabited in the 1950’s. After that we were free to wander around, so some classmates and I went on a hike at the nearby Parco della Murgia Materana, which allows for some pretty views of the town from across the valley.

Day 7- Visited another cave hotel with the class, just so we could see how these cave dwellings were renovated. Even got the chance to climb down a ladder into an old empty cistern. Then visited Casa Cava- a cave dwelling turned auditorium, and drew for a bit.

Went to Madonna delle Virtù and San Nicola dei Greci, two cave churches which also had a modern day Dali exhibit happening. Had the rest of the day free so some classmates and I went off to see some more cave churches, like the town’s Duomo, S. Francesco d’Assisi, Chiesa del Purgatorio (the outside), and Chiesa di S. Chiara. Then took a lunch break.

Obviously that wasn’t enough church sight-seeing in one day, so after eating we went to S.Maria de Idris and San Giovanni in Monterrone, and then Santa Lucia alle Malve. Both had no-photos-allowed policies. The ticket also included entry to the Vicinato a Pozza “multimedia” museum, which I wouldn’t really recommend (also wouldn’t necessarily recommend the two churches either). Bought a hand-carved bread stamp from a local artisan, historically the people of the town had to share bread ovens and so they would stamp the bottoms of them to distinguish whose was whose. Then ended the day with a group dinner.

Day 8- Woke up bright and early at 5am to go on a sunrise hike with some friends, the same route I went on Wednesday/Day 6. It was really pretty, saw some cows, had great weather. Got back around 7:15am, just in time for the complimentary hotel breakfast.

We checked out of the hotel around 8:15, and made it to the bus. We rode for about 2 hours before making it to Trani. Originally we were supposed to go to Castel del Monte, but it was still closed for restoration so we had to reroute. We drew the Cattedrale San Nicola Pellegrino before getting back on the road at 12pm.

We made it back to Rome around 7pm, with a couple of pit stops for food and bathrooms along the way.

Saturday was spent getting groceries and doing laundry, but on Sunday we were once again visiting a church (we just can’t stay away), Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza specifically isn’t open except for a brief window on Sunday and Wednesday. So me and a few friends visited and attended the Palm Sunday service both out of curiosity of how an Italian service would go, as well as to see the interior.

April 11-17th:

Monday started off with another visit to some churches, this time as part of class starting at 9am. We went into “Chiesa Nuova”, attached to the Oratorio dei Filippini. While we weren’t able to go inside the actual oratory theater, we were able to go upstairs into the library.

Also saw Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pace, Santa Maria dell’Anima, and Sant’Ivo (just the outside. This church is just very popular in my classes.) Ended the day with Italian class and working on Design.

Drawing class on Tuesday had us go to Sant’Ivo to draw the courtyard (I wasn’t lying. This is the 3rd day in a row). Then worked on Design before class started.

The most interesting thing I did on Wednesday was go to Libreria Stendhal- the French book store pointed out in one of my walking tour classes. I just wanted to browse and look for books from a French graphic novelist I like (no luck).

Worked all Thursday morning on Design, and after class went to Stadio Olimpico for the AS Roma versus Bodø/Glimt (Norway) football match. We were able to secure some discount tickets in the South side of the stadium, not too far from the Curva Sud (where all the hardcore fans are). Pretty good view, of both the game and the fans, which have their own rituals involving holding up scarves, waving flags, and singing different songs. Rome won 4-0, I am happy we got to see a victory, I imagine the energy would have been much different in the stands and after the game if they lost.

Thanks to Italian holidays, we didn’t have class on Good Friday, or Easter Monday for that matter, so had a nice long weekend, despite just coming back from the Southern field trip. Spent my free time going to museums- Museo Nazionale Romano Crypta Balbi, Museo di Roma- Palazzo Braschi which had a great view of Piazza Navona, and Museo dell’Ara Pacis. Ended the afternoon with some gelato from a gelateria that my Design professor recommended.

Sunday morning I was curious so went to 1 and a half Easter services at churches nearby, including Santa Maria in Trastevere. I was too scared of the crowds (and did not get tickets or whatever else was necessary) to go to the Vatican. That is about all I did for the rest of the weekend beyond working on Design and Urban Studies collages.

April 18-24th:

On Tuesday we went and drew Santa Maria della Pace for drawing class, then had Design as usual. Wednesday morning I went on the ’19th Century Walk’ for Urban studies, then had Italian class. Thursday was Rome’s 2775th birthday, though I didn’t have the chance to celebrate with working on Design and then class afterwards.

Friday we went to the Piazza del Quirinale at 9am to start class. It was raining off and on throughout the walking tour but luckily we were able to seek shelter in a couple churches we were visiting. Went into the Sant’Andrea al Quirinale and San Carlinoalle Quattro Fontane, but unfortunately due to restoration work we couldn’t see the inside of the Santa Maria della Vittoria which houses the Cornaro chapel by Bernini.

The weekend was full of studying for the upcoming exams, but took a break on Saturday to see some of the Rome birthday weekend celebrations. Saw an hour-long gladiator battle reenactment at the Circus Maximus.

April 25-May 1st:

Monday was Liberation Day, but due to the nature of exam week we still had class (boo).

Caught a bus to San Giovanni in Laterano for the last Rome as Spectacle class. We toured the inside, saw the cloister, as well as stopped by the baptistery. Left around 11am to go to our next destination via subway- my first (and only) time taking the subway in Rome. It isn’t really a widely advertised mode of travel, and there aren’t any stops near studio, so I truthfully wasn’t even aware of its existence until recently.

At any rate, we ended up at the Piazza Spagna to finish the last part of class- seeing the outside of the Propaganda Fide complex and Bernini’s apartment, then went inside the Sant’Andrea delle Fratte which houses Bernini’s two carved angels.

Ended Monday by taking my Modern Italian Architecture exam for about an hour and a half, answering 2 short answer questions which weren’t too bad.

On Tuesday I had a drawing class final ‘showcase’ pin-up type thing in the lecture room, with a guest critic. Afterwards studied more for the upcoming finals.

Had my Italian final on Wednesday morning, I think it went well (or at least better than I was expecting), it was a partnered presentation with my professor asking us questions. Then had my Rome as Spectacle final exam in the afternoon, following the same format as the midterm. I felt pretty confident with how I answered everything. Celebrated by getting an oreo bubble tea milkshake, taking a walk with my roommate, and accidentally stumbling upon the Chiesa di St. Ignazio which was part of the exam we had just finished.

On Friday we went on an overdue bus+walking tour for Modern Italian Architecture and Urban Studies (it had to be rescheduled a few times due to the professor having covid). We began by visiting Corviale, a 1970’s residential complex that has probably seen some better days. And then a short bus ride later we made it to EUR, previously named E42 and known for its fascist architecture. Although it is still technically Rome, it felt like we were somewhere far away (and somewhere slightly…. or even very, dystopian). Of course with my luck I brought my camera but I forgot to put in the SD card, so here are some phone photos.

Next up we visited the Fosse Ardeatine Mausoleum, a nicely designed memorial to the 335 Italian civilians killed during a WWII massacre. I’m glad we got to see so many different memorials this semester, learning both about the design as well as the history behind them.

We grabbed lunch at a food market before going to the Unità di Abitazione Orizzontale, and then hopping on the bus again before walking by the 1960’s Olympic Village, Palazzetto dello Sport, and Santa Cecilia Auditorium.

Ended the tour by seeing the MAXXI museum by Zaha Hadid, and ended the day by attending a lecture from my Design professor about spolia.

Spent the weekend working on Design for the upcoming Design final (ahhhhh).

May 2-8th:

Monday was spent working on Design from approximately 8:30am-5:45am (yep).

Took an hour nap to transition into Tuesday, the big Design final day. Wrestled with the plotter in the morning but was ready to present during the afternoon session. I think it went pretty well, and big thanks of course to my Design partner who made it possible.

Wednesday morning I used to cross off some to-dos like seeing Bernini’s Blessed Ludovica Albertoni in the Church of San Francesco a Ripa, and visiting the grave of Giambattista Nolli (of Nolli Map fame) in another nearby church. I walked by these two churches a number of times but never actually went inside until now. Then watched 6 more Design presentations for day 2 of final reviews in the afternoon.

On Thursday we all had to come back into studio to help curate and hang up materials for the final exhibition, which would display work from most of our classes. At night we had our final group dinner, held in some tears.

Woke up 6:30am on Friday and walked half an hour to the Vatican, made it there right in time to get a good spot in line to climb the dome. It opened around 7:45am and it wasn’t too bad of a climb. The viewing area for the inside mosaics was closed though, that was a disappointment. But the view from the top was nice. I think I prefer the Florence dome for several reasons, but one big one is that the St. Peter’s dome has a large fence completely enclosing the viewing area, which makes it hard to get a clear view or photo, while Florence has a more simple railing.

At any rate, as we were leaving we caught the last part of a mass that was happening inside (explains why the mosaic area was closed) which was interesting to see. On the way home we stopped by the Museo di Scultura Antica Giovanni Barracco (such a long name for such a small museum) and the Tiber Island.

Then on Friday evening we had the final exhibition showing off our work to the professors, some Pratt faculty/staff who came from Brooklyn, and even some University of Waterloo kids (who will use the same studio space once we leave). It was the last time seeing everyone in the same place (holding in some more tears).

Saturday was another long walking day. After turning in my studio key I walked like 40 minutes to Villa Medici to see the exhibition they had titled “Scribbling and Doodling. From Leonardo da Vinci to Cy Twombly”. Pretty cool to see the doodles on the backs and margins of things.

Since I was already in the area I walked around Villa Borghese, went into Museo Carlo Bilotti, Museo Pietro Canonica, and Museo Civico di Zoologia. And on the way home I popped into il Tempio di Adriano just to see what was up on the inside.

Sunday I walked to the Vatican once again, this time to see the pope (that just seems like a Rome Bucket List type of item, so might as well, right?). He had a little 15 minute speech at noon, it was in Italian but I could pick out some vocab words and he even wished the audience a happy Mother’s day.

Ended the week by going to the 7pm singing mass at the nearby Santa Maria in Trastevere, as recommended by a professor. Then met up with some friends and finally tried a sandwich from the popular All’Antico Vinaio shop near the Pantheon which always has a long line around lunchtime.

May 9-12th:

Saw my roommate off early Monday morning, and spent the rest of the day walking around and doing a couple last minute errands.

Tuesday was more interesting, I walked to the Centrale Montemartini museum. Dare I say it is probably one of my favorite museums in Rome. It houses the 2nd half of the Capitoline collections, and when I was there it had a temporary exhibit about mosaics (love me some mosaics). Of course the main draw is that it contrasts the antique sculptures with the more modern machinery of the power plant.

After that I went to the Baths of Caracalla, since my Design professor recommended going way back at the start of the semester. Loved all the intact mosaics there (didn’t know I was going to have such a mosaic heavy day but I’m here for it). Ended the day by watching Eurovision for the first time, the semi-finals at least, and yes I know I’m late to the party.

Wednesday was my last day in Rome. Saw my drawing and Italian professors one last time as I was dropping off some art materials at studio (as I was packing I had to make a couple sacrifices). Got my covid test (negative, yay, and also can I just say that getting tested here was infinitely easier than trying to get a test that would come back in time in South Carolina in January, though that is in part to the USA’s less strict ‘one day before travel’ time limit on the negative test). Tried Trapizzino for the first time, an Italian street food place near studio which I had heard so much about but just had never tried. Really good, I think it was appropriately hyped.

Spent my last evening getting some gelato, and walking around the Belvedere del Gianicolo. I didn’t take my camera and my phone died but I watched the sun set over the entire city.

My trip home on Thursday was very long. Woke up 7am, took out the last of the apartment trash, and got a ride to the airport at 8, making it there around 8:45. Security was a long and painful process but made it through at around 9:30. Loitered a bit in the mall to use up some spare time, then got through more passport security to make it to my gate. Got on the plane at noon, originally had someone sitting next to me but since the plane wasn’t full he was able to move and once again I got the ideal 2 seats to myself. Wasn’t really able to sleep, ate all the free plane food (all of which was decent, but the portions are very small). It was a ~9 hour flight but with the time change I landed around 3:30pm eastern time.

Entry into the US was a bit of a pain, probably because JFK is a large airport and I had a connecting flight, but it took an hour in line to get to passport scanning process done, and then get my checked bag, recheck it, and then go through TSA security again. I chose airport Shake Shack as my first meal after returning to America. Rome has some pretty good burgers, so I didn’t necessarily miss those, but I got my unhealthy Fanta back.

Got on my next plane to Charlotte at 7:30, and landed around 9:45pm. Picked up my bag, and got picked up by my parents around 10:10, filled out some course evaluations in the car (due by the end of day hah), then finally made it home close to midnight.

Luckily all the fragile glass items I packed didn’t break, though I was fully convinced that they would, and the glass bottle of Italian Fanta didn’t explode.

---

I’ll have some further reflections in my upcoming Fourth Year of Architecture School zine but for now I wanted to end by saying that a professor at our table during the final group dinner said that this study abroad program is run more like a family, instead of some other universities which treat it more like a business. I can’t speak for other college study abroad programs, but I am so grateful for the group of professors and classmates I got to spend 4 months with, and totally agree that it felt like a family.

I will miss overhearing our professors switch over to Italian to haggle with the security people to let us all in, I will remember running into Prof. Piccolo outside of class- all of us holding gelato- “we had the same idea!”, I will miss Prof. Blanchard’s seemingly limitless knowledge, I will remember Prof. Gadeyne’s humor- “What is your name?” “Elizabeth (A.)” “And what is your name?” “Elizabeth (C.)” “That’s what they all say”, I will never be able to think about Mantova without thinking about reciting Rigoletto in Italian class, I will miss hearing the tap tap tap of Tiny running through the studio hallway, I will miss the half-debate-half-conversations of Design class (about spolia or otherwise), and I will remember that Prof. Zeroth can really pull off a neon green bucket hat.

Thank you for reading!