Arrivaderci Roma

We have arrived!

It was a long journey--nearly 24 hours of travel, thanks to the Air France strike. Luckily our outstanding team at Concert and Study Tours (Yay Naomi and Patt!), who facilitated all our Italian adventures, were on it, and got us home!

Our final wet, rainy day in Rome was punctuated with a jovial group dinner at Trattoria Polese near the Piazza Navona. After hours of slugging through the downpour, we opted to arrive in style by several taxis. After dinner we had our final reflection which was moving, humorous, heart-warming, and deeply emphasized the purpose of this adventure: to foster growing curiosity about the world, and know something bigger is out there--in art, in culture, in politics, in life.

The students articulated their experiences beautifully. Several of them saw their very first opera, right there in Rome; many were moved to start studying Italian (which they should!); each stated they had learned something about culture and art that they never knew before. I was most moved by the heightened level of conversation that began to emerge throughout the journey--not just talking about immediate circles of influence, but in depth discussions about art, representation, World War II, and urban planning.

Over the past 10 days we walked nearly 70 miles, saw hundreds of pieces of important artwork, scaled the heights of each city, sang in one form or another in every city, engaged with artists, and performers with a common passion, boosted the gelato sales in Italy considerably, and got to know ourselves and one another along the way.

I say "Bravi Tutti!" to the great sports, courageous artists, gentle humans, generous chaperones, and curious scouts with whom I got to share Italy (in)canta 2018.

Italy enchants~Italy in song

Grazie mille!

Caroline