After a week and a half of classes, we ventured out of Rome for the first time as a program, stopping first at Florence, before splitting off from the architects to get a taste of the countryside of Tuscany and learn about the Italian campaign in World War II.
In the first of our two days in the Tuscan capital, we ascended Il Duomo, Florence’s iconic dome, where we were treated to a spectacular 360-degree view of the city and its grid-like blocks.
In addition to Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore — upon which Brunelleschi’s dome soars above the tile roofs of the city — Florence is home to some of the most spectacular churches in Italy. Professor Jeffrey Blanchard provided us with extensive details on the architecture and history of each of the structures throughout the city.
Florence is also famous for its steaks, so on Thursday night, Joshua and I went to dinner with Professor Mildred Warner and her husband, Dr. James Pratt. Needless to say, the steaks lived up to the hype.
On Friday, many of the planners split off from Professor Blanchard’s church and monument tour and went to the Innocenti Research Center, UNICEF’s office of research. We sat down with Dr. Goran Holmqvist, the associate director of the center. Dr. Holmqvist described the work the center engages in, outlining how they choose research projects and what their relationship with UNICEF is like. As I’ve mentioned earlier, our workshop centers on child- and age-friendly cities, so this meeting was beneficial to all of us as we attempt to establish a framework for our own neighborhood studies.
The following day, the planners traveled to the Florence American Cemetery to honor the American soldiers who lost their lives in Italy in World War II. Dr. Pratt’s father, Charles Pratt, was an officer in the 366th Regiment, an all-African American unit. The 366th is particularly unique because, unlike the “Buffalo soldiers” who fought in other battles in Italy, the officers of this regiment were African American as well.
In his retirement, Dr. Pratt has researched the 366th Regiment extensively in hopes of discovering more about this oft-forgotten piece of history. In contrast to other army units of the time, the stories of the soldiers of the 366th in the Second World War are not well-known among historians. Dr. Pratt compiled a list of 22 soldiers who were killed in the war, and, on Saturday morning, each of the planners laid a flower on the tomb of one of the deceased soldiers.
Later in the day, we braved the wind and the rain and traveled to Barga and Sommocolonia, which were strategic points in World War II. The mayor of Barga talked a little about the importance of preserving history and presented Dr. Pratt with a gift, thanking him for the work he’s done in researching the battles that occurred in this part of Italy.
For lunch, we drove to Sommocolonia for a fantastic meal with 10 of the town’s citizens — which represents over a third of the village’s total residents. Using our work-in-progress Italian, we chatted with the residents, many of whom had lived through World War II and some who had never ventured very far from their town.
Despite the considerable language barrier, we were able to connect with the citizens and learn about their ways of life. These interactions proved to be a break from the touristy and urban parts of Italy that we had spent the first three weeks of the semester in. Later we stopped at a small museum in Sommocolonia, a remarkable one-room exhibition packed with all sorts of items from the war.
We spent the night in Lucca, a quaint, medieval village also in Tuscany. On Sunday morning, we stopped at a pair of World War II bunkers before concluding the trip on the Devil’s Bridge, a fascinating structure crossing the Serchio River. Scattered clouds in the mountains made the setting hauntingly beautiful and provided an excellent conclusion to a fantastic trip.
