All Roads Lead to Rome and All Wines to Alcoholism

Attention: This blog is completely unrelated to alcoholism! It just made for a good title. It's called 'poetic licence' or something. I'll apologize if you were looking forward to that, and remind you I'm more mature than that if you were worried. I am nothing if not magnanimous. 
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What a weekend/week! Jet-setting all over Italy... and by 'jet-setting' I mean 'bus-setting'. I had an awful lot of sun and my shoulders were definitely feeling it, although I think I've lost most of the tomato-ey colour by now. 
Friday we had another cooking lesson, where I learned to make more pasta, tiramisu, and ragu. If you're really nice to me, maybe I'll make some for you sometime. I thought I'd burned on Friday sitting out in the Campo, but it turns out I just gave myself a strange tan line on my shins from where I'd rolled up my pants. It was Simon's birthday that day too, so a few of us went out for some vino that night, which was really nice.

Unfortunately, however, on Saturday I had to wake up at 5.30 am to catch the 6.15 bus downtown in order to go to Rome for Art History. Which in and of itself wasn't bad, just the getting up early. It wasn't even technically for my Art History class - it was for the other LC class, Roman and Etruscan Art - but all the LClarkies went. I was actually quite glad it wasn't my class, because it meant I didn't have to worry about taking notes and remembering everything really well, I could just enjoy the walk and the view and the information.

We saw the Ara Pacis, an alter for peace built by Augustus to make himself look awesome and celebrate a bunch of victories. It has portraits of famous people of the time around the top and some really gorgeous detailing like a tiny little scorpion on one of the leaves.

Afterwards we went to the Colosseum and then the forum and Palatine Hill where we saw Augustine's house and some fantastic frescoes with amazing detail. It's a pretty cool palace complex, and we got to poke our faces at the windows into his wife's palace, and man was it cool. Dude knew how to take care of a lady (hint hint).

We also wandered around the forum and talked more about that. The temple of the Vestal Virgins was there, and some fighting monks who lived across the street from them. Plus, you know that saying, "All roads lead to Rome"? Well, while that might not be strictly true, I saw the point where they measured all roads from! So that was really exciting! And then we did the Pantheon again, which I loved, as per usual. But I did get a bit too much sun, and my shoulders were definitely that night, so I decided to cover up a bit more the next day. Which was Sunday, and when we went wine tasting in Montepulciano, which is one of the wine villages near(ish) Siena.

The winery we went into is really frickin' old - something like 1000 years! The Contucci family runs it and has forever, as far as I know. And the winery is a hipster's dream. They have all their barrels built out of a combination of French, Italian, and Slovenian (?) wood, each custom shaped for the exact place they go in the storage area. Each barrel has to be replaced every 30 years, and each has a very specific spot. The wine type is called Vino Nobile and has to be made out of two or three kinds of grape and in the right proportions and also left to sit for at least two years. The Contucci can tell you exactly where their grapes come from (because they own the hills and have been growing grapes there forever) and even what side of the hill. Apparently, even if it's the same kind of grape, the side of the hill it comes from can make a huge difference in flavour because of things like sun and soil acidity and so forth. Like the other places we've been, these people claim their product is the best because they can guarantee where everything comes from, and therefore that it's the most natural.

Anyway, the tasting was very nice. We tried a white (not Nobile), a non-Nobile red, and a Nobile red. I like to imagine I could taste the difference, but I might just be talking out my butt. I have this feeling that good red wine leaves this gritty sort of feeling on my tongue, kind of tangy. But again, I might be making that up. I did buy some, because it was extraordinarily inexpensive. Oh and they totally have a bottle of wine from the 1800s. What.

We sort of meandered around in the sun for a while and had a snack (and I put some good karma out into the world) before heading on to Pienza, where Pope Pius II was born (before he became Pope). He was a famous humanist, and one day he decided to flatten his birth place and build the ideal Renaissance city. Which, according to Mike, was kind of a failure. The church is of particular note, because there are no religious markings on it, really, just the crest of the Piccolomini family, which was the Pope's family. 

I had a second (gasp!) gelato, and we took a walk along the wall and took in the amazing view. The weather was so good, and Mike and some of the other program dudes bought some cheese, so we wandered out to a bit of grass and sat and munched and lay in the sun. A few of us almost got left behind because we had the return-time to the bus wrong, but we made it okay. And, best of all, I didn't peel from my burn! Woo!

The rest of the week was much more relaxing than the weekend-which-almost-killed-me (because of the lack of sleep) but also much busier than any other week so far. It's Wednesday now, and I'm flying home in 17 days, which simultaneously feels like the longest time ever and no time at all. I cannot wrap my head around how long I've been here and that I'll be going home really soon. 17 days ago, I was just getting back from Spring Break, and the time between then and now has flown by. I know that I'll be home soon and missing Italy so much, but not only does it feel like forever, but I can't decide if I should be happy or sad, so I settle for some awkward, inarticulable combination of the two.

Tomorrow I'm going to Padova/Venice for the weekend with Trevin and my friend Chris who's coming all the way from Seville, which will be amazing! We're going to try to see the Vesuvian Man in Venice as well as St. Mark's, the Peggy Guggenheim, and Padova's Scrovegni Chapel (look it up, or forever fail at the interactive blogging). I'll let you know how it goes!

In other news, I have gained some weight! Operation Get-Fat is working! Although, it is mostly just the weight I lost last semester when I gave up eating wheat (and by 'gave up' I mean 'cut back heavily on'), but I am optimistic! My Nonna claims I'm un po' più grassa - or 'a little bit fatter' - around the face and the pants. So that's good, probably! I know a couple of you will probably be pleased. My butt will be, if any of it goes there. Fun (and little known) fact: if you are a twig, sitting on your butt in a hard plastic classroom chair for more than an hour becomes almost unbearable. No, seriously. Just one more reason it's better to have some shape.

Unfortunately, you're probably up for some navel-gazing in the near future so be warned! But I'll throw in a fun list of weird things about Italy or something... things I'll miss and things I won't or something like that (I might have stolen that idea from a friend).

Love and misses!

<3