Ciao!! This weekend ISA took us on a very relaxing trip to Verona and Lake Garda. It was so nice to not have to plan a trip on our own and just get on the bus and be driven to our hotel! The train system in Italy is fantastic and goes all over Italy but sometimes you have to switch trains or there are problems like not enough seats or the train can break down. So it was nice to be taken to Verona and Lake Garda by private coach.
Juliet
Verona is a small city in Veneto, a northern region in Italy. It is the second largest city in that region after Venice. Verona is known for Juliet’s balcony. Shakespeare wrote about Juliet and how she lived in Verona. After Shakespeare’s story of Romeo and Juliet became famous, tourists wanted to visit her house when they came to Verona. Unfortunately, Shakespeare made it all up and Juliet did not have a house or balcony. However due to tourist disappointment the city found a family with the name of Capella (meaning “hat” in Italian) similar to Capulet (Juliet’s last name)- and declared it Juliet’s house. Later they added a balcony to match Shakespeare’s infamous story. Today, hundreds of tourists visit her house and write Juliet letters. The letters consist of love troubles and problems and Juliet writes back!
Verona was extra special when we visited because they were having a cultural fair. The fair was celebrating the different regions of Italy. It had foods special to each region in Italy such as Naples pizza, Lambardy Millanesa, Sicilian Aracini di riso (fried rice ball), and Chianti wine. They had a risotto cook off and samples of different types of cheese, olive oil and sausage. It was a delicious experience!
Largo Di Garda (Lake Garda)
The next morning we departed for Sirmoine- a town on the southern part of Lake Garda. There we got a private boat tour of the lake which was so much fun! There is a sulfur spring by Sirmoine where the water is known for having healing properties. The water was so incredibly blue and was surrounded by mountains that where so high they still had snow on them. It looked as though we were standing where they took the picture of the Poland spring bottle. All in all, Lake Garda was very relaxing and a lot of fun. It was so nice to get away from Florence and see what Northern Italy is like. I hope this give you a good idea!
Ciao for now!
Lauren Wederich
Classmates Connecting Cultures
Florence, Italy
Spring 2012
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