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The first stop today was a visit to the L.Da Vinci Technical College that Piero is Bursar for. We were met by a bright and bubbly English speaking teacher who had organised 6 of the best boys/young men to show us around. We were given the "Royal Tour". The boys were shy at first and not game to try their English but they soon loosened up with some questioning about their work and projects at the school. The school provides technical subjects such as Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Design, Environmental Engineering, Programming, building circuits, mechanical engineering and building. When we first met the boys they introduced themselves and then showed us their Backup Power: Photovoltaic Cart they had made from scratch. It was brilliant and was essentially a cart with detachable solar panels that could produce energy from the sun and store it in batteries. The cart can then be taken anywhere and used for backup power.
The College was incredibly well equipped for training - well stocked laboratories; the necessities for computer designed robots; programming; testing soils, metals, and other properties; lathes and welding gear; circuit board making and anything else you could think of necessary to build technical knowhow. The
The basilica bells
The bells in the basilica bell tower at Aquiliea classroom environment was a credit to them - everyone was busy and involved, quiet and polite (they stood up when we walked in the room and we were greeted accordingly). Too much to fully mention here. At the end of the tour we had a drink together in the Cafe and talked to the boys about their futures and desires - by this time they had all warmed up and using English quite freely.
Our teacher guide said that Piero's role was pivotal to the school and they couldn't operate without his calm guidance. He will be missed when he retires later this year. All in all a great experience.
We then went to visit a flour mill and museum not far from Guilia's with Pierina. It showed all the mill workings, the crops, the flours, as well as farming equipment.
Following this we visited a very old (like the others) Abbey in a nearby town called Summaga, except this one was like the one on the island of Torcello.
It has been incredibly hot today at 34deg so doing anything outside was a real mission. It is starting to get to us with the humidity, heat and no wind.
The heads from roman tombs
Roman heads from tombs now in the Aquileia Museum. There seems to be an extra modern one at the end! Later this afternoon we went to Aquileia with Diego. This old Roman town in northern Italy not far from Trieste was founded as a colony by the Romans in 180/181 BC along the Natissa River. It is one of Rome's 9 main towns so was a very important trading town linking the Eastern Empire with the West with the Annia Way which passes through it. The town is literally full of ruins to explore. We walked up the Bell Tower (puff, puff) and got great views out of the Veneto region (or is it Guilia?). The main attraction is the Basilica and words cannot do it justice in terms of the interior but also the facilities to view the exposed old town and crypt beneath the basilica. The mosaics in the church and roman town houses are amazing - many of them show animals, birds and people in the design.
The nearby antiquities museum was also amazing. We've been to a few museums showing roman culture, but this one was exceptional in that it had so much material to show, plus 100's of urns containing people's ashes. The carved busts and whole statues were great too since they really did look like the people they portrayed - all different, just like we are all different. We ended up by running out of time and being shooed out at 7.30. If anyone is interested in history and doesn't like the crowds in Rome, then this is a good place to come to since there is so much to see.
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