Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Benvenuto D&M! Welcome!

     Hello blogosphere, a new place where I can share my amazing travel experiences in Italy! I’m currently attending Accademia Italiana (AI), a design school in Florence and will begin to blog about my life here as a student. It is currently my fourth week living in Florence, and it has been absolutely incredible so far. I have traveled to beautiful places, eaten my weight in pizza, and continue to learn about different cultures. I anticipate my posts will mostly contain stories of my travel, blogs about fashion, and lots and lots of food. But for now I will give an overview of my most recent trips and experiences!

Siena and San Gimignano
     I am so lucky to attend AI because there are several weekend trips provided through the university. At the end of our orientation week we took a day trip to Siena and San Gimignano, two beautiful Tuscan towns just a few hours away from Florence. 
     Our day started in Siena in a torrential downpour. But even the rain could not take away from the gorgeous views of the hills and town. We met a tour guide who led us through St. Catherine’s Cathedral and then Duomo di Siena. Learning about St. Catherine of Siena was interesting because they have the head and finger of St. Catherine on display, and apparently other parts of her body are in other churches across Italy. 
     The Duomo is a must see, featuring intricate mosaic tile floors depicting scenes from the bible as well as important symbols of Siena and Italy. One of my favorite parts of the Duomo was the “Library” room which holds beautifully hand bound song books and scriptures. The frescoes in the room are massive and all of the artifacts appear in excellent condition. The saturated colors, gold leaf details, and ornate designs place you back in time.
View of Siena
     After a few hours in Siena we were on our way to San Gimignano, a medieval town that is nestled high up in the Tuscan hills. The views on the bus ride of ripe vineyards ready for the harvest. We stopped in “The World’s Best Ice Cream” shop and their sign proved true. The chocolate and coffee flavors were my favorite, but you can’t go wrong when it comes to gelato. I wish we had more time to enjoy the views and the sunset but we had to be on our way back to Florence.

View from the top of San Gimignano
     I will also include a link to a video I made of my first week adventures, including this trip here and below! I hope you will enjoy the video and post! Ciao!
   




3 comments:

  1. This post was so helpful because I am very interested in going abroad in Italy. I've been to some of these places, and it was nice hearing someone else's perspective on them and to see that we also had very similar experiences. Thank you for posting! Loved the pictures.

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  2. I really liked you post. I found the pictures to be a great visual aid. I am not interested in studying abroad in Italy , however, you really made me reconsider my choice. I think you really captured the true beauty of the places you visited both in your descriptions and pictures. Great post!

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  3. I have been debating on where to go for my study abroad between London and Italy. This video made me want to definitely do study abroad in Italy. The pictures you have shown are so beautiful as well as the information that you have posted about the trip itself. This has made me excited and want to pursue study abroad in Italy.

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