Day 13: Velletri

Velletri train stop

Today, I went to Velletri with my Italian II class. Seven of my classmates met up in the lobby of the Rome Center before 8am, which was when we were supposed to leave.  However a couple were late in coming downstairs and we ended up running extremely late to catch the train at the Rome Terminal.  Our teacher had cautioned us that we had to be on time because he had our whole trip set up according to certain times. Nevertheless, we still managed to be late.  We caught the 913 bus around 8:15 and took it to the Cipro Metro station.  When we got to the station the same students who were late did not have Metro tickets so we had to wait for them to get Euros from an ATM and buy tickets.  We had twenty five minutes before our train left the Terminal for Velletri and we still had to take a twenty minute Metro ride to get there.  Our metro arrived that the Terminal at 8:56.  We ran allllll the way up at least four different flights of stairs and through the terminal and boarded the train just as the doors were closing.  We were pretty lucky to make it!  We were all out of shape and I slept for the hour long train ride.

The train we took after arriving into Velletri

We arrived around 10:15 in Velletri.  Our Italian teacher met us there because Velletri is where he lives.  I can't believe he makes the train commute to the Rome Center everyday.  After buying our return trip tickets we walked with our teacher around the town.  We stopped in front of the Porta Napoletana, which was built in 1511 as the gate into the city.  It was one of the few buildings to survive virtually unscathed during World War II.  Velletri was bombed NINE times by the Allies during the war.

Porta Napoletana

 From there we stopped at a local cafe called Al Bar 2000.  Our teacher bought coffees for whoever wanted them.  We then went to the Saint Clement Cathedral built in the 1660s. It was an old church that was undergoing restoration.  Our teacher told us that before Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI, he was the Bishop of Velletri for about 20 years!  The Pope returned in September 2007 to celebrate Mass in which a Bronze memorial commemorates the visit in front of the Church. Next our teacher abandoned us making us ask directions in Italian from the locals.  We had to find a bakery called the Forno.  When we got there the owner, Senor Lopez showed us how bread was made and we got a whole bunch of tasty sugar cookies at the end.

Delicious Cookies!

We then had to find the market, which we did.  They sold raw rabbit meat.  It was a sad sight. Next we searched for the Trivium Bell Tower.  It was built in 1353! It was the coolest thing by far in Velletri.  It was built 300 years before the neighboring Santa Maria Church was.

Trivium Bell Tower

After searching for various piazzas and touring the courthouse, we finally were able to eat. We all had a delicious meal at a local Mom and Pop restaurant called Medioevo.  We had a three course meal that consisted of spaghetti, veal and beef, and an assortment of mini desserts.  It was quite delicious.

The Restaurant

After eating, we boarded the train for home. We all had a pretty good time! We all slept on the way home.  I woke up just in time to see the remnants of the famous Roman Aqueducts from the train window.  The aqueducts are one of the greatest achievements and most important engineering marvels of the ancient world.  It was quite a site to see! The pictures do not do them justice.

the aqueducts!

We all finally got home around 5:00pm. Ashley had quite a miserable day, especially since I wasn't around all day. We ate pizza at Pizza Maggio and got some milk and snacks from the nearby grocery store.  We both tried to get some sleep that night but we slept very little because we were up at 3:00AM to get to the airport for Paris!!

My Italian II class