Left, Siebengartner in the Santa Chiara Cloister in Naples.
Below, at the top of Mt. Vesuvius, with Pompeii and the Bay of Naples in the Background.
the roads, and restaurant-goers, serenaded by passing musicians, watch the people wandering by and enjoy the local cuisine in the warm evening air.
During the three days of our stay in Sorrento, we visited Beneventum, home of the world’s best-preserved Roman triumphal arch (of
Trajan); Saepinum; Capri, of interest for its beautiful scenery and the Villa Jovis (Tiberius’s favorite retreat from imperial duties);
Oplontis; and Pompeii for a second time. The trip back to Cumae was via the Amalfi Drive. Clinging to my armrests, I peered out the window beside me to see the one-inch-thick guardrail that was going to prevent our fifty-foot bus from careening off the rocks and into the churning waters hundreds of feet below us. My fears were completely unnecessary, and I should never have doubted our driver. Not only did he manoeuvre the Drive with ease, but when forced to abandon our planned course by a block in the road, was able to take the bus over the mountains that parallel the coast along even tighter roads with arguably more terrifying drop-offs. This road trip was one I won’t soon forget, on account of both the exhilarating panic I felt for most of the ride and the magnificent scenery. Heavenly blue skies, glistening clear waters, and green cloud-tipped mountains spread in all directions, and I had little trouble understanding why this Bay was so fiercely fought over for so many centuries.
During our last four days, staying again at the Villa, we visited Capua, Caserta (the "Italian Versailles”),
Baiae, Bacoli, Misenum, and the National Art Gallery of
This trip was most important to me for three main reasons: It provided a visual experience that will remain with me and clarify the literature I read as I continue my Classics career, it exposed me to people who reassured me that Classicists are indeed the kinds of people I want to continue to surround myself with, and it gave me a huge respect for the patience and self-restraint that are involved in archaeological work. Today, as I read Juvenal and Aristophanes, their jokes and references to ancient city-living take on new meaning and are illuminated by
I owe enormous thanks to Eta Sigma Phi for having made this trip possible by their generosity. The experience will stay with me forever and has added new fuel to my desire to learn as much as possible about the ancient world. I am grateful also to the University of Vermont Classics Faculty for their constant encouragement. It will be a thrill to share with them my memories and photos of this special trip.
