Arrivederci Roma !

Colosseum

St.Peter's -Vatican

As I sit in my office here at home, dark miserable clouds replacing the blue Roman skies, I ponder the five days I enjoyed in Rome with Claremont Sixth Form and five erudite colleagues, representing a spread of specialisms. Here was a city bursting at the seams with cultural riches on nearly every street corner, on a scale witnessed nowhere else on this planet. My admiration and gratitude go out to the Italians who have kept all these things for posterity.

 Rome is certainly a city to visit time and time again, to rediscover the old and absorb the new. That said, there was another aspect of this adventure I am also thankful for. It was a pleasure to witness so many of our students showing an interest.





They allowed themselves to be enveloped by Roman culture, some on a small scale and others much larger. We witnessed the grotesque, from the Colosseum, with a penchant for murder on a grandiose scale, and a Crypt decorated with the skulls and bones of Capuchin monks and children,

Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini

to the beauty of Bernini sculptures and Caravaggio paintings. Rome had everything on offer and at times it could be  overwhelming. Despite the groans of tired feet, which had pounded the Roman causeways, and the aching legs that had cycled around the city, on the whole the Sixth Form remained in high spirits, and I felt our visit to the Vaticanon Tuesday rounded off a hugely successful visit to Rome. Thank you to the Sixth Form and my colleagues for making this adventure such a positively memorable one. Arrivederci Roma !!