Walking Spoleto

Today was the first day of classes. We had travel writing at 9:00 am and poetry at 11:00.  We sat on the patio overlooking the town and drank coffee while we talked about travel memoirs and ekphrasis.  Why can’t classes in Charleston be like this? After classes, we had some time to kill, and I sat by the pool to read.  At 1:00, we began walking into town to go on a walking tour of Spoleto, which is by far the hilliest place I have ever been.  Think San Francisco on crack.  Near the top of the town, we stopped to get pizza for lunch.  The lady behind the counter didn’t speak a single word of English, so I had no idea what I was going to end up with.  I thought I conveyed that I wanted a single slice, but something must have gotten lost in translation because I wound up with an entire pizza.  The 7.50 Euro price tag should have tipped me off, but I figured trying to fix it would be futile.  It turned out to be a good mistake though.  Everyone helped me eat it, and it was delicious!! However, the first thing I looked up in my English-Italian dictionary when I got back to the villa was “one slice.”  For dessert, we, of course, got gelato- pistachio, my favorite.  At 3:00, we met up with our tour guide and began walking all around town, which, incidentally, is all up-hill (did I mention that it’s hilly? J). The majority of Spoleto is over 1,000 years old with greenery everywhere, so, needless to say, it was breathtaking.  After the tour, we were in one of the many piazzas, and all of the streets were blocked off.  About ten minutes later, around 50 old, luxury cars drove by. Ferraris, Porches, Mercedes, each equipped with an old man in driving gloves and driving goggles.  We decided to watch the parade with more gelato- Bacio, or hazelnut, this time.  Mr. Lott, one of our professors, took a few of us to a local café/bar where he bought us each a Martini Rosa. We sat and talked for about an hour before we went back to the villa.  Tomorrow, the majority of our group is going to Rome, but I have already been there, so I’m going to Castelluccio with a few people, which I’m sure will also be amazing.  Can’t wait!

Ciao!
    

PS- sorry for any late posts. The internet here is not super fast. I guess even it's Italian! Unfortunately, this means posting pictures is really difficult, but I'll keep trying!!