While walking through the city’s remains we learned about the surprising stories, habits and customs of its people: from the brothel to the first fast-food stalls, from the size of houses to the original paving stones marked by the wheels where chariots would have driven through. It exceeded our expectations in many ways and was an excellent way to start our first school trip to the southern coast of Italy. 

 

Once back on the bus, an hour and a half later, after tight turns with the Tyrrhenian Sea in sight, we saw the view of Sorrento: a spectacular city built on a cliffside overlooking the clear water of the sea. All of us were excited to see what this town had in store for us - as it is one of the most talked about. We arrived and had some free time to explore the narrow alleys paved in cobble stones, colored shops full of local products and lemons (typical of Sorrento), beautiful terraces overlooking the port and Vesuvius in the distance. Some decided to go to the beach, others went shopping, while some explored the town. We found a couple of streets where people gathered to eat, shop, and sing with anyone who started to play music at night. We had dinner in the garden of a beautiful villa and the night we were free to enjoy the rhythm of the city.

 

The next day, we woke up early, to get the quick ferry ride over to the island of Capri. We were immediately in awe of the island’s sights, the water, and what the day had in store for us. We got into our groups and went into smaller boats for our exciting tour of the island! Each boat driver told us different stories. One of the boat drivers, Antonino, took us close up to the rocks to talk more about how rocks had background stories related to the island. After asking multiple times if we could jump in the water at different spots, we were surprised to get told we could jump in. The colors of the water were so inviting, and the temperature was just right!

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After a quick swim and a lot of laughter, we found ourselves on the other side of the island. Some of us split off to see the view from Anacapri (the city on top of the island), grab lunch, go for another swim or sit by the beautiful beach. In the late afternoon we took a ferry back to Sorrento, had the night to ourselves enjoying dinner and more of the sights and lights of this enchanting city.

 

The day after we had some more time in Sorrento, then headed back to our home in Arezzo to begin our Fall semester!