Day trip to Tivoli!

Ciao a tutti e benvenuti in un altro blog!

Program Leader Andrew here again with a recap of our excursion to the picturesque town of Tivoli. On Saturday morning we boarded a private motorcoach which took us on a roughly one hour trip northeast of Rome to Tivoli. On the agenda were visits to two of Tivoli's most famous attractions: Villa Gregoriana and Villa d'Este. Also planned was some time to stroll through the center of town and a delicious lunch featuring local fare. 

Shortly after our arrival in Tivoli, we entered the grounds of the Villa Gregoriana, which is now a park that features attractive scenery, exciting hiking opportunities and the Grande Cascata, Italy's second biggest waterfall (for the record, the largest is called the Cascata delle Marmore in the nearby region known as Umbria). Our young navigators hiked past amazing landscapes and even entered a couple of caves!

Our exciting tour of the parkland worked up our appetites and so we stopped for a lunch of amatriciana and then panna cotta and tiramisù for dessert. After our delicious meal and fun conversation, we were off to explore the amazing mansion and spectacular grounds of the Villa d'Este.

The Villa d'Este is a Renaissance era masterpiece which boasts half a million visitors a year, ranking it as the 10th most visited spot in all of Italy! Our young travellers were in awe of the amazingly manicured lawns and gardens, fountains, and  trees and other flora and fauna. The mansion itself is almost as impressive as the grounds, with its jaw-dropping artwork and fine detail around every corner.

After our visits to the landmarks were complete, we stopped in the center of town for shopping and gelato. As a teacher of Italian, it always makes me proud to watch our young navigators use their constantly improving Italian abilities to speak to locals, who almost always engage in conversation with a smile. 

After our return bus ride to our temporary Roman home, it was rest and relaxation and a delicous dinner. 

Thanks for following along with our blog!

Un caro saluto,

Andrew