Italy is an amazing country with delicious food, beautiful scenery, and so much to do.  In Italy, we visited the busy city of Rome to the small but beautiful city of Belfort. Italy is a country that I would definitely visit again!

Cinque Terre

One of the first places we went to in Italy was Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is 5 little villages located on the Adriatic Sea. The five villages that make Cinque Terre are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Riomaggiore was the village where we stayed. Riomaggiore is the smallest village out of all the others. We stayed in Riomaggiore for 5 days and from there we hiked to the other villages. The hike to the other villages contains lots of steep hills which makes the hike very hard. The hike up the hills takes about an hour but seems much longer with the sun making everything sweaty and hot. The hike to each village takes about 3 hours but once you arrive you have an amazing view of the beautiful scenery. The village houses are painted beautiful colors which makes it look like a rainbow. At one of the villages, we bought lunch and sat on some rocks by the water. The water was amazing.

Siena

We stayed in Siena for 5 days. The apartment we stayed in was really big and it had a loft where my brother and I slept. We also spent Easter in Siena. For Easter, we went to a 2-hour easter mass. The mass was pretty boring because it was in Italian so for 2 hours we sat listening to a language we didn’t understand. For Easter, we also had an Easter egg hunt. After the Easter egg hunt, my mom and dad gave my brother and I an Easter egg. The easter egg was huge and it was the size of my head.

Tuscany

We stayed in Tuscany for 10 days in a small village called Belforte. We rented a really nice villa with a hot tub and a beautiful view of the rolling hills. The villa was pretty big because our friends were visiting us and we needed enough room. Belforte is such a small town that you could walk around it in 15 minutes! We rented a car so we drove to 5 different villages, Volterra, San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, Montepulciano, and Montalcino. The drive to each of these villages is very pretty. Along the way, there are vineyards, olive plantations and fields of beautiful red poppies.

Rome

We stayed in Rome for 7 days in a neighborhood called Trastevere. The friends that stayed with us in Tuscany also joined us in Rome and we stayed in the same apartment building. Really close to our building there was a park. Our friends, my brother, and I would spend hours playing grounders and it was so fun. In Rome, we also visited the Coliseum because who wouldn’t–it’s a 1,938-year-old building! The Coliseum was used for tournaments and battles. Gladiators, which were slaves, would fight against other humans and even animals. Because of all the fights in the Coliseum, 5,000 animals and 100 humans died each day. When a gladiator was fighting against another gladiator and they were about to kill the other gladiator he would look at the crowd. If the crowd was holding their thumbs up it meant to kill him and thumbs down meant to save him, he was a good gladiator. The Coliseum could also be filled up with water and it was used as a big artificial lake. Boats would be brought into the Coliseum and the gladiators would perform a reenactment of sea wars. The gladiators would fight each other in boats and more than 100 died. In Rome, we also visited the Pantheon. The Pantheon was originally built as a temple for the Gods but now it is a church. The roof of the Pantheon has a big hole and when light shines through it looks so beautiful. If you could believe it we also visited a country inside of a country. The country that we visited is the Vatican which is also a city. In fact, it is a city, country and a state. Most people don’t know the king of the Vatican because he is also the Pope!!

Renaissance

What was the Renaissance and how long did it last?

The Renaissance was a period in history after the Middle Ages. The word renaissance came from the French word meaning rebirth. It lasted from the 14th century to the16th century. The Renaissance was a drastically different change from the Middle Ages. It changed how people thought and lived there lives. The Middle Ages were also called the age of faith because it wasn’t exactly a happy period. People entirely believed that God controlled everything and the church is always right. They also believed that death and poverty was a punishment from God. When the Renaissance came people stopped believing in this and realized that the human body is very special.

Where did the Renaissance start and how did it spread?

The Renaissance started in Italy because it was a very rich country. The main reason it started in Italy was that it was the central point for trading and business. The Renaissance spread with the invention of the printing press. The printing press allowed information to spread faster than before. Before the printing press most people didn’t know how to read because all the books were handwritten and because of this, they were very expensive. Another reason most people couldn’t read was that most books were written in Latin and only the most educated could read Latin. With the printing press, books were printed faster, cheaper, and in many different languages.

What impact did the Renaissance have on art in the world?

Back in the Middle Ages people bought art only to symbolize that they are rich. The Renaissance made a very big impact on that and people started to buy art because of its beauty. During the Renaissance period, Michel Angelo, and Leonard da Vinci created some of the most famous pieces of art in existence. Some of these pieces are the portrait of pope Juliens the second, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and the Monalisa.

Castro

Castro is a small town located in the south of Italy. We stayed in Castro for 1 month in a house by the sea. Every day we would go swimming in the sea and it felt amazing. The water is so clear and refreshing. The water looked shallow but only because it is so clear if you try to touch the bottom you probably won’t be able to. The bottom is so deep that your ears pop trying to touch the bottom. Castro is separated into two parts, Castro Marina and Castro. We stayed in Castro Marina which is the part near the water. Castro is the larger town just above Castro Marina. We would go to Castro to get groceries at a store called A&O. The walk up to Castro was hard because it was on a hill which meant lots of stairs and the sun made ever thing so hot and sweaty. While we were in Castro our grandparents visited us and it was really nice seeing them again. They stayed about 3 minutes away so it was really easy to meet up.

Conclusion

Italy is an amazing country and I loved every second of it while I was there.  I have to say that the small town of Belfort is probably one of my favorite parts of Italy. I also really liked Rome. Even though the city was very big and crowded it was worth it to see all the amazing scenery.