Ciao,

Today the engineers started the day with a lesson on sustainability and comparative systems. They learned about the ways that Italy stays sustainable. Some examples were the card activated lights, where they need to put their room key into a slot to activate the lights in the room. Additionally, many of Italy’s buildings including the Bosco Verticale have live vegetation creating a carbon zero environment. From there, the engineers compared the sustainability of Italy to that in the United States.

After class, the engineers had the day to explore the city and take part in various activities. Many of them went to Museo Pietre in Florence, purchased last minute souvenirs in the main city, and some even several individuals even went to a Toscano Vineyard for a wine tasting. Overall, the engineers are taking these last few days in Italy to enjoy the city and prepare for the journey back to the states.

Several of us went to a vineyard on a wine tour at Fattoria Lavacchil which is in the region of Tuscany made with chianti grapes. The views from this vineyard were beautiful as seen in the picture with the St. Thomas flag. The tour consisted of the long process of growing the grapes tending to them and fermentation as well as the aging process. One of the coolest things about this vineyard is that they don’t use any pesticides on their grapes and there are no spices, sugars, or sulfides added to the wine, so the taste comes solely from the process from the grape to the bottle. We learned about the proper way to taste wine and how to tell the differences between colors flavors and alcohol content. It was an informal tour, and we felt quite welcome.

To wind the night down we all watched a movie in the hotel lounge enjoying one of our last nights in Italy.

On Saturday a group of 14 guys took on the Italy rail system to head to Cinque Terra Riomaggiore. It was an early morning starting at 5:00 AM to make the 7:00 AM train. As the morning went on, we stopped in Pisa and then 2 other cities to make our way to the coast. When we arrived, we started our day by taking the hiking trail along the coast for a few miles before it turned into construction and was closed. We then had to hike a few miles into the mountains to make the longer journey up and around. The hike was a little more than expected as groups of people with actual hiking gear were walking by, and we were all in jeans and sweatshirts with regular shoes on!  The terrain was rough, but the views were amazing and worth it. As we finished up, we could see Manarola, A beautiful Italian city where you’ve seen a lot of pictures online of the buildings tucked into the rock walls. 

After our long hike, we ended up at Manarola which was considered town #2. The town was very beautiful, and many of us tried their unique seafood options, such as octopus sandwiches. After this, we explored more of Manarola and found some amazing views. We then went to Monterosso, which is considered town #5, and checked out the sandy beaches of the Mediterranean! We then checked out the water drainage tunnels and saw how the water drainage system was designed very early on, but it is still ahead of its time with how efficient it is. After checking out the drainage tunnels we finally made our way home and ended up chasing down a bus that was able to bring us back to the hotel.

Tom and Calvin

Today, we got up and started our day in the classroom. We learned more about compression members with an emphasis on domes. Our class time was highlighted by a paper dome-building competition. We split into teams, and the group with the strongest team would win a gelato treat from Professor Besser. The champions of the day were Ethan, Gentry, Thomas, and Erik. 

We continued our journey to Tivoli and Hadrian’s villa. Hadrian created his Villa to be more of a city surrounding his home. This was done out of his personal distaste for Palatine Hill. The Villa took many years to construct, and sadly, Hadrian was only able to live there for a few years. There were tons of amazing mosaic tiles laid on the floor and so many rooms to explore. There were lots of different areas that were specifically for the emperor and his family. Hadrian did not abandon the palace in Rome. However, they certainly liked the area outside for a quieter. One of the coolest sights on the trip was the Canopus and Serapeum. This is a large pool surrounded by many columns and statues, said to connect his villa with the ancient city of Alexandria. The villa is expensive with the grounds covering 250 acres (about the total floor space of the Pentagon). 

Our next stop was still in the city of Tivoli where we checked out Villa d’Este. Before we began our tour, we found lunch within the city. The class found paninis, pizza, and gelato to refuel for the villa. During the tour, the class quickly learned why the villa is so famous. The Villa is terraced on a hillside with a stunning garden and an extraordinary system of fountains. The original owner, Cardinal Ippolito d’Este, ordered the construction of Villa d’Este in 1550. At one end of the garden is the Fontana dell’Organo. This is a fountain with an Organ built into it. The instrument is played by the water through a complex hydraulic system. The fountain was commissioned in the late 1500s by Cardinal Alessandro d’Este. The hydraulic systems contain water that naturally flows down the hillside, and it’s all used to supply the 51 fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, and 364 water jets. This was one of the most visually stunning treats of the trip thus far.  

The class woke up to great news about the weather: 55 degrees and sunny today! After a great lesson on arches and columns, the class took the metro back to the Colosseum stop to start the day of touring the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and a tour of the city’s bridges. During the republican era of Rome, the Forum was used as an all-purpose city center, while it would eventually be used for religious temples and monuments under the empire. The class went through the vast expanse of the ruins, with countless columns and structures still standing. Above us stood Palatine Hill, one of the “Seven Hills of Rome.” This hill has huge cultural and historical significance as it is said to be the birthplace of Rome. It was the sight of many emperors’ homes and personal libraries. The sight has a wonderful view that only adds to the beauty of the sight. Emperors such as Augustus, Tiberius, and Domitian built their residences there.

Just by Palatine Hill is the Circus Maximus. This is a secondary Chariot racing stadium that provided a second source of entertainment to the Coliseum. At Circus Maximus, each set of horses and their chariot had to be pulled around 7 times, one time for each planet that they knew of. Circus Maximus also hosted different events, but it was a super cool sight to see.

The bridges of Rome were very impressive to see. At the end of the guided tour, a group of us followed the Tiber River from the forum back to the Castle Of Saint Angelo   Besides the fact that the weather was incredible today and most days of our trip. During the class presentation today, we discussed the methods ancient Romans used  to build bridges without motors. They stacked limestone on top of each other in the form of  an arch and designed it in such a way that compression forces (weight of each block against the others) kept the bridge stable. They then filled in the top of the arch with rubble to add more weight to the arch and, in turn, more compression. Seeing a bridge of that design still standing, while a bridge of a different design that looked to be around 50-100 years old in ruins, goes to show how advanced Roman Engineering was. This was a very scenic and educational part of a fantastic study abroad trip so far.