Romers Visit Venice, Florence & Assisi

From April 9-14, Spring Romers - accompanied by the Rome faculty and staff - boarded buses and headed north to make educational visits to three of Italy's great cities - Venice, Florence, and Assisi.

Arriving in Venice on Wednesday 9 April, students were given an orientation tour and an introduction to the history of the great Venetian Republic. They spent the evening exploring the city on their own, riding vaporetti up and down the canals, and traipsing over Venice's 400 bridges as they learned to make their way around this most unusual of urban centers. The next day, Thursday 10 April, was jam-packed. The morning began with faculty-led study tours of the Doge's Palace and the Basilica of San Marco, while in the afternoon, students chose from a large array of faculty- and staff-led tours that introduced them to some of Venice's other great works of art and architecture. Still energetic and eager for more, the late evening saw a large number of UD students roaming about the quieter parts of Venice, as they listened to the array of ghost stories that are a product of the city's long and varied history.

On Friday 11 April, it was back on the buses for a drive to Florence where students would spend two days studying Renaissance art and culture. The Romers enthusiastically examined Renaissance painting in the Uffizi Museum and admired Michelangelo's great sculpture of David in the Accademia Gallery. They were also treated to faculty- and staff led tours of such museums and historic sites as the Medici Palace, the Monastery of San Marco, the Bargello Museum, the Brancacci Chapel, and the Medici Chapels.

A bit of rest and reflection came on Sunday 13 April when tired but content students once again boarded buses for a ride to the peaceful hill town of Assisi. There, Theology Professor Dr. Joe Stibora treated them to tours of the Basilica of Saint Francis and other important Franciscan sites, as well as a wine-tasting led by Msgr. Thomas Fucinaro, but students also managed to fit in some quite time for prayer and meditation before heading back to the Constantin Campus on Monday 14 April.

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