Ciao from Italy!

After a busy night out celebrating and watching fireworks for Bastille Day, I arrived in Tuscany Saturday morning just in time for the post-wedding brunch with my family. The villa our family was staying at was located right near the medieval town of Casole D’Elsa.

View of Casole D’Elsa from Balcony of the Villa

Villa from an overlook in Casole D’Elsa

Before dinner, my parents took my sister, two cousins, aunt, and I up to the town where I was immediately surprised at how narrow the streets were and how different the architecture was. Most of the buildings are either made from brick, stone, or a combination of the two. During World War 2, this town was severely damaged which is evident by the repairs that have been/haven’t been made on some of the buildings, especially the Tower of Porta Rivellino.

With less than 24 hours spent in Tuscany (which definitely was not enough time to really take it all in), we packed up the car Sunday morning at drove down to Rome. From the minute we entered the Eternal City, I was awestruck again by the small winding streets that connected it. Unlike Paris, Rome left their medieval streets just as they were; cobblestone, small, winding, and quaint. One thing I found pretty cool was that similarly to Paris, Rome has water fountains all over the city where you can refill water bottles or cool off your necks. According to our tour guide, the water for these fountains come from the still functioning aqueducts that provide the city with water.

Because I am only here with them for two days, we took a segway tour of the city so that we could see as much as possible in one day. We stopped everywhere from the Pantheon and the Roman Forum to the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my Lizzie McGuire Movie moment and meet a really cute pop star after throwing my coin in the Trevi Fountain (low key really disappointed).

The Forum was probably the most interesting site to see for two specific reasons. The first is that it sits below the present day street so you are looking down into it instead of directly at it from street level. The second is how well preserved the ruins are, especially since it had been built on top of for hundreds of years. Since I was curious about how well preserved it is, Google helped me out and led me to an article from the University of Washington. According to the article, large restoration and preservation projects began in the 1980s, but the first archaeological research began in 1803. There is still archaeological digs and research taking place in the Forum today and some parts are even open to the public for people to walk around at what would have been street level during Emperor Augustus’s rule.

Our next stop is the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica! Hopefully I’ll be able to explore a little more as well. Until then!