This summer, 10 Students and two faculty members are traveling to Italy to examine the Etruscan, Greek, Roman, medieval, renaissance and modern footprints on the Italian peninsula and in Sicily. Please enjoy this blog post below from Maeve ’27 where she shares how the group explored the ancient temple at Segesta, practiced Italian while shopping in Marsala, and bonded over a hands-on pasta-making class and evening stroll through the city.
After spending our first night in the Hotel Viacolvento, we woke up to a buffet style breakfast. I enjoyed a cornetto (croissant in Italian) and a fresh apricot.
After breakfast we hopped on the bus to Segesta Archeological Park. As Antonio (our driver) pulled into the parking lot, we caught a glimpse of the temple we were about to enter. On the hike up the hill we discussed Aeneas’ connection to this temple. Once we reached the top, Sophia (one of our guides) gave a brief history lesson about the site. We learned that a portion of the group of Trojans that Aeneas was travelling with settled near the site. Later, their descendants began building the temple. We learned about the theories of their motivation for the temple and why it was left unfinished. Some scholars suggest that the Segestans wanted to display a sense of wealth so the Athenians would become their allies during the Peloponnesian War. Others conclude that the Segestans started building a temple, but ran out of funds and were forced to stop. Learning about the history of Segesta provided a complex perspective on the significance of it. After this brief lesson we walked around the temple. I was amazed at simply how close to the temple we were allowed to get. We could touch and stand on it. This interactive experience fueled my passion for the Classics.
After exploring the temple, we drove back to Marsala. We ate lunch together. I had Arincine filled with eggplant. We walked to the sea, and just enjoyed ourselves. We took a moment to reflect, and enjoy each other’s company. We then had a few hours of free time to spend in the city. I went with Sophia ‘26 and Charlie ‘26 to find a grocery store. All of the workers there spoke only Italian. It was a little nerve racking, but we were much more successful at communicating than I expected.
For dinner, we took a cooking class on how to make pasta. We made sauce while the pasta was setting. After we cooked with varying amounts of success, we enjoyed a relaxing dinner. Dinner was fun and I think it was a bonding experience that brought us all much closer together.
We concluded the night with a walk around Marsala, and gelato. We even briefly ran into our cooking class instructor!
Today was chock-full of activities. It was tiring, but such an incredible experience.
