Torna a Sorrento

This weekend, we had our orientation trip to Sorrento. We left early Friday morning at 7:00am. We drove straight to Ercoleum, a town that was destroyed from the eruption of Mount Vesuvio, which buried most of the town. We walked around the excavated part of Ercoleum and saw the ruins of what had been a surprisingly civilized town. From there, we left and went to a wine tasting, right outside of Napoli. The vineyard was at the base of Mount Vesuvio. At the vineyard, we were served a three-course lunch in the same room with the barrels of wine and tasted four different wines. After lunch were went to our hotel, the Hotel Flora, which was a beautiful hotel in the heart of the small town of Sorrento. Saturday morning, we woke up and left for a buffalo mozzarella farm. At this farm, we were able to take a tour of the stable where the buffalo were housed. This farm was very different from anything I had in mind, especially knowing farms in the United States. Mozart plays for the buffalo in the mornings to relax them and there is a large brush that rotates in the stable to give them back massages. After the tour, we were able to taste the fresh mozzarella cheese, which needless to say, was an experience after justing seeing and smelling posthe stable. We left the farm and went to Paestum, which was an Greek colony with Greek ruins. We walked around the museum and among the three surviving temples. From there, we went to a restaurant and ate traditional Neapolitan pizza. Today was our last day in Sorrento. We checked out of the hotel and headed to the palace of Charles III of Bourdon. While taking our tour, we learned that Charles the III wanted a palace that was more beautiful than any other palace in the world, including Versailles. So, it goes without saying that it was one of the most beautiful places I've seen. The last place we visited was Montecassino. This was by far my favorite site. Montecassino is a monastery on top of a mountain north of Napoli. It was bombed during World War II in an effort to relieve Italians from the fascist party. Saint Benedictine built a church which mainly survived the bombing. The inside of the church was absolutely breathtaking. We also visited Saint Benedictine's cellar, which is where he slept. The whole experience was fantastic. We were able to see so much history, along with meeting new people and forming relationships that will last forever.

Baci,
Nikki