Buongiorno Signor Ronchetti,
insengnati e studenti
What a trip of a lifetime. On the 13th of April, 16 students ranging from years 10 to 12 accompanied by Mrs. Baluch Mr. Lewis and Ms. Pritchett of St Dominic’s College left Sydney International Terminal, bound for Italy. After a 20 hour flight, we arrived in Milan where our journey began we spent the next two days seeing the sights of the city including San Siro Stadium (AC MILAN/Inter Milan Home ground), Cathedral of Milan (il Duomo di Milano), La Galleria di Vittore Emmanuel and La Scala; one of the most prestigious Opera houses in the world.
From Milan we embarked for the floating city Venezia (Venice), we spent the day basking in the sun seeing San Marco basilica and Palazzo Ducale. We toured the canals of Venezia by taking gondola ride through the famous Grand Canal.
After a whirlwind visit, we travelled to Firenze or Florence but not until we stopped in Maranello to visit the home of Ferrari and a trip to the Museum. Once in Florence, we went back in time to the Renaissance and Baroque time periods. During our stay we explored many of the landmarks including Palazzo Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio, Piazza del Duomo, and Michelangelo’s David. One of the highlights I believe we can all agree on was the amazing view of Florence we saw from Piazzale Michelangelo, a group of the boys stayed till sunset to see the changes colours and lights over Florence. A sight many will never forget.
Continuing with the tour we arrived at our second last stop, Naples. Naples was a very different environment than other cities. But had some of the most cultural traditions we experienced. Over the 3 days in Naples, we conquered the volcano Mount Vesuvius, travelled to ancient times with the cities of Herculaneum, Pompeii, attended an Easter service unlike anything we had seen before and watched an Easter procession take over the streets of Naples, as I’m sure all the boys would agree with me, the pizzas were the best in Naples and non-could compare.
Our last 5 days were spent in Rome the eternal city, named for a very good reason we engaged with attractions from the Colosseum to the Victor Emmanuel II Monument to the entrancing Trevi Fountain. While in Rome, we even travelled to another country; The Vatican City, where we spent the day wandering through the museum, the Sistine Chapel and finally St Peter’s Basilica itself where it is said the apostle St Peter was crucified and buried. A group of the boys even climbed the Copula and had a bird’s eye view of the Vatican and into Italy.
Thankyou is not enough however it is rightly said. A big thank you to Mrs. Baluch Mr. Lewis and Ms. Pritchett for giving up your time to look after us, making sure we got home to see our families safely but more importantly ensure that we made the most of every opportunity throughout the trip, whether that was sharing your experiences and knowledge with us, teaching us the importance of where we were at many of the sights, or pushing us outside our comfort zones to see what we could achieve including using the language. For year 12, this was our last chance to be part of a school tour and I know that the 5 of us are beyond grateful for the opportunity. To future students considering the Italian tour, I would definitely recommend seeing Italy, as it is a beautiful country and you learn so much more than just the history and the country, you learn about yourself and another society which can only make you a better person.
Grazie mille to everyone who made this trip possible.
By Todd Robertson – Year 12
