So I’m sitting in the Rome airport trying my very hardest not to cry as I leave Italy, but so much has happened in the past week that I haven’t told you, so I have this blog to distract me from my tears. In the past 8 days, I have been to Orvieto, Pisa and Cinque Terre… and now I can’t stop daydreaming about the Italian countryside.
Because I didn’t have a final on Monday, I decided to take a little solo day trip to Orvieto. Orvieto is a teeny little hillside town about an hour outside of Rome. I’ve seen countless photos from other friends that have studied abroad there, and Rick Steves seems to love it, so I thought I’d check it out. I boarded my train early Monday morning, where I sat across the aisle from another American girl visiting Orvieto for the day. This was especially comforting when our train got stuck in a tunnel for an hour, and we were the only two in the entire car that spoke English (luckily she knew enough Italian to translate some key words from the staff on board). Once we finally made it to the Orvieto station, I rode the funicular up the steep slope to the top of the hill.
My first stop was Pozzo di San Patrizio, a well that was built in the early 1500s. It’s 177 feet deep and the stairs intertwine in a double helix form, so getting down was a delicate balance of excitement to get to the bottom but also trying not to slip on the slippery steps. I finally made it to the bottom, where I realized that I essentially just climbed down the hill that I paid the funicular to take me to the top of. Regardless, it was awesome to look up at the light while standing the bridge floating on the water below. I made my way back up the spiral stair and was reminded, yet again, just how out of shape I really am. Walking up nearly killed me, but when I finally got to the top, I was rewarded with a sunny, breathtaking view of the valley below.
There was a chance of rain for the day, so I decided to take advantage of the sun while it was still out and visit a nearby ruin overlooking the Italian countryside. The spring greens of the rolling hills were the perfect complement to the blue sky. The air was a bit chilly, but the sun was warm.
As the clouds started to roll in, I descended the ruins and made my way towards the city center. It only takes about 5 minutes to get to the center of Orvieto, but within my short stroll, the temperature managed to drop about 20 degrees, and the wind picked up a lot. I hurried to the Orvieto Cathedral, both to see its beauty and to take refuge from the blustery weather outside. The Cathedral, famous for its vibrant façade, was nothing short of spectacular. The colorful mosaics danced across the front of the church, adding the right about of shine to the otherwise bleak piazza. Inside, the church was striped with black and white… a cold, hard change from the playful exterior. I hesitate to use the word “disappointed” for any cathedral, but if I absolutely had to, I think this may be the one.
I left the cathedral searching for more, but it was still pretty chilly, so I went right next door to the cathedral’s museum. Maybe I’ve been in Italy too long, but the art inside was just so… typical. Medieval frescoes, column capitals from the previous cathedral, I felt like I had seen it all before. It wasn’t until visiting the special exhibit that my interest perked up. There was a collection of drawings and sculptures by Emilio Greco, an artist who I had never heard of before that day. His work was beautiful, and captured movement in a way I had never seen any other artist do. It was a pleasant surprise.
By the time I exited the museum, the wind had died down, so I decided to venture to a nearby lookout point (if you haven’t figured it out by now, the best part of Orvieto is looking out from Orvieto). On the way, I passed the other American girl from the train again, and we greeted each other with a wave. I (again) found stunning views of the surrounding countryside, this time embellished with a castle in the distance. I didn’t get to enjoy the view for very long before getting completely slammed by a storm. Within a matter of seconds, I experienced super strong winds and pelting rain. I tried to walk back to the Cathedral for shelter, but even walking was hard. My umbrella was broken, my shoes were soaking wet and my cold nose was a bright red. For the first time since being here, I felt lonely and wished I had a friend with me.
About 10 minutes later, the weather died down into a light rain, so I had enough strength to walk around and find some lunch. I ate at a small tavern that served some of the most delicious pizza I’ve had since being in Italy, and had the opportunity to taste some of Orvieto’s famous white wine. It felt a bit awkward to be eating by myself, but the meal was so delicious that I didn’t care.
By the time I left the tavern, the sun was shining once again, so I continued to explore. Generally, most of Orvieto is pretty quiet, making wandering pretty easy. Everywhere I turned, there were quaint houses, beautiful views, and gelato stands. As nice as the city was, I couldn’t help but feeling more and more lonely as the day went on. I felt that I had seen enough of this small town, so I headed back to the funicular to catch the train.
The American girl was also on the funicular, so I figured by this point we should probably introduce ourselves. Her name was Bridget and she was from Denver. Bridget works as an Au Pair in Rome, where she takes care of two small kids and teaches them English. She explained that she basically didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life, so she’ll stay here until she figures it out. The more people that I meet that take this approach to life, the more I start to wonder if I should have done the same… Bridget and I sat next to each other on the train back to Rome, and swapped stories of living in Italy and where we had traveled. We parted ways on the metro, but I was really nice to have a new friend for a few hours.
It’s no secret that I’m not a “small town girl.” I love cities and the energy they bring. So really I’m not sure why I keep trying to force myself into liking small towns, whether they be in America or Italy. Orvieto was beautiful, and I’m glad I experienced it, but I was happy to be back in Rome after a few hours outside the city limits.
The next day, Jessica and I didn’t have finals, so we decided to take a quick trip to Pisa to see, you guessed it, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Because we booked our tickets so last minute, the only affordable train was a regional train that would take about 4 hours to get to Pisa. We didn’t really have any plans all day, so we just decided to go for it. Regional trains, while old, noisy and debatably unsafe, are a great way to see parts of Italy that you probably wouldn’t get to see otherwise. Our train ran along the western coast, and we had a beautiful view of the Mediterranean for the entire ride. The bright blue water glistened in the sun, and the beach was studded with small, colorful homes. As we got further north, we had an excellent view of the mountains that run along the center of Italy’s boot-like form. It may have been a long ride, and we may have felt like we were going to die a few times, but it sure was beautiful.
When we arrived in Pisa, I was immediately shocked by its size. It certainly wasn’t Rome, but there was an abundance of busy streets, lined with colorful buildings and bustling shops. I guess I hadn’t done enough research to know how big Pisa really was.
It wasn’t hard to find our way to the tower, considering you can just follow the massive crowd that is all heading in the same direction. I’ll admit, I spent most of my morning wondering if sitting on a train for 8 hours that day was worth seeing this tower, but when we actually arrived at the site, everything was SO worth it. The tower is incredibly cool, and leans a lot more in person than it seems to in photographs. Looking at the base of the tower is the best way to see how far it’s leaning, so that was our first stop. We noticed that there were people climbing the tower, but decided against joining them once we saw the 20 euro price tag and 3 hour wait. We were content on the ground. Like the cheesy tourists we are, we proceeded to take pictures propping up the tower (but it was okay because everyone around us was doing the same thing).
Next, we visited the Baptistery and the Church, both of which were beautiful, but not nearly as cool as the tower. The design in Pisa is simple: white marble with lots of columns. The interior of the church was a bit more colorful (because what is an Italian church without a gold ceiling?), but the aesthetic was pretty consistent throughout.
We didn’t have much time before our train ride home, so we scurried to a few souvenir shops before grabbing a quick bite of lasagna for lunch. It wasn’t long before we were back on the train to Rome (but this time, instead of admiring the beautiful scenery, we slept).
Pisa was a ridiculously fast whirlwind of a trip, but I’m really glad I went. Because really, can you say you studied abroad in Italy if you DIDN’T visit the leaning tower??
A few days of finals passed just as quickly as our trip to Pisa, and suddenly our semester was officially over. We spent our Friday night saying goodbye to all of our new friends from other schools over a meal of delicious pasta and an unlimited supply of wine. As soon as Saturday morning hit, though, Caity and I were off to Cinque Terre National Park.
Cinque Terre is a set of 5 towns in Northern Italy that are all connected by awesome hiking trails and terraced cliffside farmland. The area is a National Park, so it is very well preserved, as are the 5 towns. Caity and I boarded the regional train to Manarola, the 4th of the 5 towns. Really there isn’t much to do in these towns other than explore the town itself, so that’s exactly what we did. The steep roads up the cliffs made the walk to our hotel a hike in and of itself, so we took a quick break in our room before heading out to see Manarola. We found a mini trail that led along the ridge of the town, so we followed it to the sea, where we were rewarded with one of the most amazing views I have ever seen. The town felt like a colorful version of Santorini, Greece, with bright buildings dancing along the side of the cliff to the water below. Caity and I stood here for a while, both for the view and to catch our breath.
Eventually we descended the cliff and found a seaside restaurant for lunch. Like any self respecting tourist, we ordered seafood, and wow it was fresh. Luckily, our portion of mussel risotto was huge, so we had enough to savor for dinner that night.
We continued our explorations down by the sea. All of the rocks on the water are pretty easily accessible, so, much like in Greece, we picked out a rock and laid there… for an extended period of time.
After a bit of souvenir shopping, we stopped back by the room to drop off our lunch leftovers and take a quick nap (after all, relaxing in the sun by the sea can get pretty exhausting). When we woke up that evening, we decided to explore the other half of the city, which was atop a massive staircase outside our hotel. It was getting dark, and a bit rainy, so we cut our wandering short and returned to the hotel for dinner.
The next morning, we woke up early to head to the next town, but not before eating the most delicious homemade breakfast I’ve ever had. The pastries were fresh, the bread was warm and the juice was sweet. We probably could have stayed and eaten a second breakfast, but we had a train to catch. Unfortunately, the trail between Manarola and Corniglia was closed due to landslides, but the train got us there in under 5 minutes.
We arrived to a quiet Corniglia, which made sense considering it was about 9 am on a Sunday morning. But this made the tiny town very easy to explore. There were a few small churches, but they were all having mass, so we climbed down to the port to kill some time before they opened. Along the way, we met a feline friend that joined us on our journey. We named him Dionysus, and hoped that he would one day meet our Greek friend Adonis. The port ended up being closed due to rough sea conditions, but the views were enough to make the trek worth it.
After climbing up roughly ten million stairs, we were back in the heart of Corniglia. The churches had opened, so we took a quick peak inside. Unlike the churches of Rome, these were only one room and felt abnormally small, but they were beautiful nonetheless.
Before setting out on our hike to Vernazza, we stopped in a small gelato shop that advertised lemon slushies. Slushies are SUPER hard to find in Italy, so we jumped at the opportunity to enjoy some cold, icy goodness… and it certainly didn’t disappoint. The lemon was refreshing, with just the right amount of sugar to make it sweet, and the cold ice was perfect for our hot, sunny hike.
The hike between Corniglia and Vernazza took us about an hour, and it was probably one of the hardest hikes I’ve ever done (though that may just be my new gelato weight talking). The entire trail was stairs. We were either going up stairs or going down stairs. Maybe 10 minutes of the full hike was on a level path. Luckily, we were distracted from our pain by beautiful views of the Mediterranean and Corniglia in the distance. We stopped pretty often to “admire the view,” but once we caught our breath we were back at it again.
After crossing the last peak of the cliff trail, Vernazza greeted us with a cool breeze. Caity and I could see the town below with its beautiful harbor, and it instantly became our new favorite. We descended the cliff and found ourselves right in the middle of Vernazza. As badly as we wanted to explore, we first had to stop by the train station to check the schedules of the trains headed back to La Spezia, where we needed to catch the train back to Rome. Once we had our tickets in hand, we were off.
Despite the last hour of steep hiking, our first adventure took us to the top of the other cliff overlooking the town. Upon arriving at the top, we found more breathtaking views. We decided we couldn’t get enough, so we made our way to the top of the third cliff (yes, more stairs), for the best view yet. My friend Lane was the one that first introduced me to Cinque Terre, and it was with a picture of this exact view, so I was incredibly excited to see it for myself. This look out point was on the main trail, so it was a bit crowded, but I could have stayed there forever. Vernazza is arranged in a horseshoe like plan, with the rocks of the bay to complete the circle.
The sea was very rough that day, so we watched as waves crashed onto the rocks, surprising the most unsuspecting tourists that were unintentionally standing in the splash zone. From this point, we could see a small restaurant on the waterfront, with the perfect view of the crashing waves, so we descended the cliff and made our way to lunch. We casually enjoyed lasagna as we watched people get drenched by waves in the distance. When someone got wet, the entire restaurant would laugh.
After lunch, we found some delicious gelato on the main shopping street, and we took our cones up to the medieval tower overlooking the city. I could tell you about the beautiful views from the tower, but you’re probably sick of hearing that phrase by now, so we’ll just fast forward here.
Our last hour in Vernazza was spent on a rock by the sea. The sun was warm, but the breeze was strong enough to keep us cool. I dipped my feet into the Mediterranean for what would probably be the last time. As much as we wanted to stay perched on our rock for another few hours, we had a train to catch back to Rome.
Exploring different cities along the countryside was the best way to wrap up my time in Italy. Italy is so incredibly diverse, making every region worth traveling to. Whether you’re visiting a big city or a small town, you’re bound to find something unlike anywhere else in Europe. I can’t believe my time here is officially over. I still have a few weeks to explore Scotland, Germany and Switzerland, by my time as an Italian has come to an end. I am going to miss this crazy country with all of my heart. But for now, I’m headed back to the English-speaking world on a flight to Edinburgh. So for the last time, Ciao (ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao).
Number of Columns Hugged: 5
Days Since Mexican Food: 134
Days Since Pasta: 1
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Read more from Haley at https://haleywalton.wordpress.com/
To find out more about the U of A Rome Center semester program for Architecture, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/romecentersemester/
