Naples is not that impressive, at least from our first glance perspective. As soon as we landed on the marina from Capri ferry ride, we had to walk across a city to our designated hostel, including through one of those LONG tunnels that were loud, smell and not pedestrian friendly. Walking by several pictures of people with flowers around them, all of the sudden it occurred to me; I do not want to have my picture added to the pile, so we better paid more attention to these crazy Italian drivers who were zooming by within only inches from us. Reaching the Bay of Naples area by dusk, we still need to walk for at least another two miles to get into a secluded area where the HI-Hostel International Naples is located. We would use our ... read more

I’ve always been interested in UNESCO sites all around the world after visiting the Borobudur Temple in Indonesia several years back. I was thrilled to learn that one of the UNESCO sites protected in Italy, apart from Roman Forum and others, is the town of Vicenza. Vicenza is the home of Palladian architecture, which defines the classic Italian Reneissance architecture in late fourteenth century. Paladio’s nest Andrea Paladio (1508-1580) contributed most of the cultures we experienced in town of Vicenza, including the world famous Paladio’s Villa Rotunda (c. 1571) in outskirt of Vicenza, which was perfectly shaped and symmetrical from all angles. From the inside, the villa felt more aesthetic than functional to my modern standard, but I could imagine aristocrat people back in the fourteenth century lived in the villa. Everything was perfectly designed with ... read more

Florence. The city of light, the city of art. The city where the famous dome arches high above cobble streets, and David stands proudly in his piazza. At least his fake, because they removed the original David to a museum where you have to pay a fortune to see him. Ponte Vecchio, Santa Maria della Novela, and tons of Renaissance arts and architectures. But instead of experiencing it all, our day started in Villa Medici (c. 1671) in Fiesole. We were so antsy about having done with school work for the day and exploring Florence that was within our sights. From the Villa, we could see the terra cotta color Duomo in a distance, and like Jason described it, we felt like cats with a little fish waving in front of us. "Duomo ... duomo ... ... read more

Rome has been a major city for more than 2,000 years. Although it is quite illustrated on what we've seen so far, but going to one location and experience it all helped us to understand how the process works. San Clemente is the only church in Rome that literally shows how 'modern' Romans (we're talking about the 12th century Romans) built their city on top of the ancient city of Roman Republic (c. 100 BC) or early Christianity. The present San Clemente structure is a 12th century church that is dedicated to the fourth pope of the Catholic popedome. From the outside, the structure is not inviting to be checked out; just a regular church among more than 3,000 churches and chapels in Rome. Walking around the first level of the church, we saw several arches ... read more

As much as I like to explore Rome as a tourist, living in Rome as a ‘temporary’ citizen of Rome as our instructor Katherine referred to, is interesting. By day eight, everything becomes so ordinary for us - a group of ignorant tourists everywhere blocking the narrow streets of Rome talking in different languages, doing groceries, loud dump truck that regularly comes at one in the morning in front of our apartment to pick up overloading garbage, locals that always reply in English even though I started the conversation in Italian, two line Metro and bus number 70 or 30 to go to the studio, and schoolwork. The progress of my studio work in Testaccio turns out to become somewhat personal experience. I chose a small unattractive plaza of the Parco della Resistenza dell'Otto Settembre, located ... read more