Today was Italian Immersion Day. Italian Immersion Day happens once a semester when we go on a trip with our Italian Professor and class to a place where we can really be immersed in the Italian atmosphere and language. Last semester, we went to the Boboli Gardens. This semester, we did something a little different.
The bus took off at 7:45am and because I at times struggle with time management, I had to wake up at 6:30am. While I planned on sleeping a little on the bus, that idea quickly changed when the scenery outside the window transitioned from buildings with chipped paint to green rolling hills and valleys.
While I didn't have any particular The Sound of Music flashbacks, I was memorized by the symmetry and structure I found. The neatness of the formations, a nice contrast to the at times chaos of the Florence city center. After picking up the Italian students with whom we were to spend the day with (to, again, be immersed in the language), we made a quick stop atop a hill to see the view while not in motion. Once again, it was beautiful.
Then we were back on the bus and in route to our actual destination, Castello di Nipozzano in Pelago, Italy. This castle serves as a winery owned by a family which goes back for 1000 years. In fact, our tour guide said that the current owners are the 50th generation of the family and the three family castles (not all in sane area), were given as a dowry when a woman was being prepared to marry into the family. Interesting, right?
While we were not allowed to sample the wine, it was fascinating to hear about the process performed to create/store/keep wine. We also got to take a tour of the winery and honestly, I never knew how strong (or distinct) the smell of wine was until I took this tour.
By 12:30pm, we were all kinda hungry because we had to leave the school before breakfast opened and cranky because we were hungry. Luckily the wonderful staff at the winery provided us with bread (really great flatbread) and cheese (Pecorino, which I originally thought was Parmesan. That first bite was a surprise). It may not have been filling, but it did keep us from resorting to see exactly how far delivery places delivered.
Despite the early wake up call and the lack of wine tasting at a winery, overall I still had a good time. Now I need to take a nap because I almost fell asleep around 4 times attempting to write this post.