This week was another action packed one as we had our first week-long class field trip. The destination? Tuscany! (Also, because there are so many pictures I’d like to show, click here to see a separate post with my Tuscan photos).

Last Sunday was basically preparing for the field trip like packing and doing the readings. I did take a break to visit the Sancta Scala, the Holy Stairs that Jesus ascended during his trial. St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, who made Christianity legal in Rome, brought the stairs from Pontius Pilate’s Palace from Jerusalem to Rome. The stairs are located in St. John the Lateran’s complex, the papal center before St. Peter’s. Thus, the stairs lead up to Sancta Sanctorum, the Holy of Holies, which was a private chapel for early Popes. In order to climb the Holy Stairs, you have to walk up the 28 steps on your knees, traditionally saying a specific prayer on each one. Everything about my experience was truly incredible! Sunday night my friend Mo made a classic Egyptian meal for us, which was also exciting.

Early Monday morning we got on the bus and departed for our first stop, Montepulciano, which is a small hill town in Tuscany. It was probably my favorite town of the trip! Every time I reached the top of a hill or turned a corner, the view was more beautiful than the last. After doing our architecture tour of the town and grabbing a quick lunch, we left for Pienza, another, smaller hill town. After we toured Pienza, visited the major buildings, and sketched, we left for Siena. It was fairly late in the evening when we arrived so we quickly dropped our stuff off at the hotel (taking a break to stare at our amazing view) and left to find a place for dinner. As we climbed the hills and stumbled from one piazza to the next, we kept finding reasons to delay dinner. We finally found a neat little restaurant tucked under a building on a hill and ate under a amazing vaulted brick ceiling. After dinner, we decided to check out the Duomo and found some of the graduate students who were traveling with us laying down in front of the church. They invited us to join them! Staring up at the incredibly detailed, textured, and colored facade against the black sky is something I’ll never forget.

We spent all day Tuesday in Siena, beginning with a walking tour of the city where we saw many churches. One such church was Basilica San Cateriniana di San Domenico, the church of St. Catherine of Siena. My interest in St. Catherine of Siena goes back to when I was little and saw her foot in a church in Venice, one of the first Catholic relics I saw. She also is the Patron Saint of my dorm at Notre Dame. Inside the basilica, I was able to see her head and her thumb. After seeing her church, we visited her house which was also pretty fascinating. After the walking tour ended, we went to Palazzo Pubblico, the massive medieval structure with the huge tower in the main square, the campo. The Palazzo Pubblico served as the town hall and contains a room with famous frescoes called “Good and Bad Government.” The campo has a semicircular shape and funnels down toward Palazzo Pubblico. It is also the location of one of Siena’s greatest traditions, the Palio, which is a horse race where the various neighborhood compete for glory and bragging rights. After lunch and sketching in the piazza, we went to the Duomo where we spent a great deal of time exploring inside and trying to absorb the sensory overload. We then grabbed a quick snack in Siena’s most popular cafes and went to do more sketching. That night Notre Dame treated us to a gluttonous yet delicious meal.

Wednesday morning we left Siena for another tiny hill town, San Gimignano, where we discussed a lot about towers (the tiny town had 72 in its prime, with 15 still remaining) and had a lot of time to sketch and study. We then headed to Florence where went to an overlook across the river and climbed up a hill to San Miniato al Monte. Again, we quickly dropped our bags off at the hotel and departed for another walking city tour where we saw Palazzo Strozzi, Palazzo Rucellai, and Santa Maria Novella. A small group of us went to grab dinner near Santo Spirito, the more laid back, less touristy part of the city.

The next day began with entering the Baptistry of San Giovanni, the San Lorenzo, where we specifically studied two Michelangelo projects, the Medici Chapel and the Laurentian Library. After stopping in Palazzo Medici and breaking for lunch, we met at Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents). Then we went to Santa Croce, where we saw the Pazzi Chapel, and the graves of Machiavelli, Ghiberti, Galileo, and Michelangelo as well as an honorary spot for the great Italian poet Dante, who was exiled from his native Florence. We ended class in Piazza della Signoria where Palazzo Vecchio, the medieval town hall, and the Uffizi gallery are. We spent the evening completing a perspective of the area for our drawing class and had another classic Tuscan meal.

We spent Friday morning in the museum and gardens of Palazzo Pitti where we saw paintings by the Renaissance masters. We had free time in the afternoon to complete our second required drawing for class as well as visit the Duomo and climb Brunelleschi’s astounding dome! We made it back to Rome that night and the rest of the weekend was spent unpacking and doing schoolwork, as well as having a little fun watching Notre Dame beat Boston College!

As a side note, our professors kept telling us about where to get which classic Tuscan foods, and I certainly followed their directions! Some highlights: pecorino cheese, various specialty wine, truffles, pici pasta, wild boar, and a taste of Florentine steak.