We were brutally awakened by the crowing phone alarm at 05:20 in Castiglion Fiorentino to come together on our last morning in the town. A large group of students hiked uphill into the town to a set of arches overlooking the Tuscany countryside to watch the sunrise, which was hidden behind the clouds that had lingered from the rainy days beforehand. We met back for a quick breakfast at the hotel and were on the road to Venice by 07:30. Most of us spent the first couple of hours on the bus sleeping, until we stopped at a convenience/gas station-like store and picked up lunch. Loading the bus on full stomachs made everyone more talkative and the noise level on the bus reflected that. It was nice to get some free time to talk about our excitement for the last leg of our trip and the final things we wanted to do in Venice. Shortly after we arrived at the port in Venice, we unloaded our bags to stand in the hot sun and waited for a ferry to transport us to Lido, our home base for the next couple of days.
After settling down within our respective hotels and catching a much needed break, we took a vaporetto water bus back to Venice to begin our next part of the day – an informational tour of the main city of Venice. Our perspectives on the culture, history, and architecture that surrounded Venice were challenged and developed as we started at St. Mark’s Square and proceeded through a labyrinth of narrow roads and water channels to Saint Mark’s Basilica, Saint Mark’s Campanile, the Bacino di San Marco, the greater areas of Castello and Cannaregio, the Rio Canonica Palazzo, and more. Our tour guide was magnificent. The vibrant colors and shapes of the buildings, gondolas, statues, and channels sprang to life as she weaved historical lectures, personal anecdotes, and humorous interjections into a tapestry that captured our absolute attention. We wished that it could have gone for longer.
With the tour over, we split into smaller groups for dinner. With the sun rapidly setting, a majority of the group decided to seize a couple of final hours to tour the grandness of Doge’s Palace. A masterpiece of Gothic Architecture, we were humbled as we walked the sweeping, beautiful elegance of rooms, halls, and courts that housed the Doge of Venice, a supreme authority of the Venetian Republic and a symbol of the seats of the Venetian Government at the time.
A phenomenal display of the harmony of piano and musical talent punctuated the ending of our day. Exhausted from a day that started at early sunrise, we appreciated a mini talent show by several of our talented peers that featured a repertoire of classical pieces, pop songs played by ear, and intense stretching done to melodies that swept the hotel lobby. What an unforgettable evening; what an unforgettable group.
Best,
Isabella Arpero ‘23 and Brian Huang ‘23
