Andiamo a Italia

I have been looking forward to posting this most because of the incredible adventures and memories that each city brought to me. Italy is probably one of the most diverse countries I’ve ever been in. We learned in our Italian Style class that each city has different types of people, different cultures, foods, and historic sites. Florence is known for its Renaissance Art, the Duomo, fashion and wine. Sicily is known for the beautiful beaches, the importance of family, fashion, and cannolis. Sorrento, Palermo, and Pompeii are very close to Sicily so they have many similarities because they are in the south. Sorrento is known for its Limoncello, Palermo for its beaches, and Pompeii for its ruins. Obviously, each of them have much more to offer and they have their own distinct personalities that bring Italy together. Venice is a beautiful city on water that was manmade. Because of this, it is drowning and especially during the winter seasons, there is a very high tide where water consumes the whole city at morning time.

 

 

This is where we’ll begin my journey. Venice is a city that I have been to previously and have loved to get to know the ins and outs of. The first time I went, I went with my uncle who took us to get gelato and ride on a gondola on our way through Italy in the summer. This time I spent the night close to the center of town and saw a new side because it was VERY cold. During the time I visited, it was still warm in Florence so we thought it would be the same or warmer with the location. We were wrong. I had to buy more layers while I was there because it was that cold. Our first day we went to the main church and had to go on top of special stools that were located around the whole square in order to be above the water.

The first coffee shop in Italy is here called Caffé Florian, and we enjoyed our coffee and our morning before venturing on. My favorite part about Venice was that the city is haunted (in the best kind of way). I would recommend taking walks through the city at night and getting lost. You may think that this is dangerous but it was one of my favorite memories. There is something spooky about a city surrounded with alleyways of water. Everything is very well lit and there are tourists and residents wandering the streets. Venice is a tourist city and thrives from the people that come to visit it. When we spoke to locals, we learned that they go to school to become different vital parts of the tourist services. Whether it be a waiter, tour guide, gondola driver, etc. Because it is so small and beautiful, there are so many people that go through the city year round.

Sicily will always have a place in my heart. We decided to go during a long weekend at the end of October right before Halloween. Sam’s family is from Sicily and we were so excited to get to meet them and learn more from an authentic Italian family. If you’ve ever heard of Italy, you’ve probably heard about the Godfather or Italian American families whose mama cooks and never lets them stop eating. This is how our weekend was. I have never in my life been so full. Every single meal we ate was a feast and the food our host mother cooked for us was like no other food I’ve ever eaten. We spent our days with their extended family, going to ruins, the beaches, and like I said, eating…