Written by Cat and Henry, Italy & Greece Semester Students
We spent this week at Centro Panta Rei. On Monday we embark by train towards Florence. We are all looking forward to being back in a city! We can’t wait to see and walk around the beautiful city of Florence and taste the world’s most recognized and flavorful wine. But we will wish a bittersweet goodbye to our beloved farm as we trade in the Italian rural slow paced life for the big city.
What were the top highlights of the week?
This week we visited a few of Rome’s outstanding historic structures; The Colosseum, Arch of Constantino, and The Trevi Fountain. Our group was given a guided walking tour which showcased The Colosseum, The Arch of Constantino and a tour around Rome, where we saw our friends from Sora!
🇮🇹 The Colosseum was once a bloody and gruesome amphitheater with 76 gates for the general public to enter through, each member of the public had a coin-like shaped disc that was their identification and told them which gate to enter through. Which made me personally feel like I was Russel Crowe in The Gladiator.
🪨 The Arch of Constantino, is a beautiful structure seeing how the ground of today is lower than the structure itself. Including, the stone carvings and the writing within the Arch itself is something truly remarkable.
⛲️ We can’t forget about The Trevi Fountain, knowing that all of these structures were made by hand before we had any of the tools/equipment that we do today is astonishing. The statues that involve horses with wings, men with robes and angles blowing trumpets, it is all truly remarkable. After, walking through the Colosseum, The Arch of Constantino, and The Trevi Fountain these three astonishing historical structures is something that is more than memorable.
Our transformations are never without challenges – what was most challenging for the group this week?
This week we unfortunately had to say goodbye to one of our beloved group members. We are currently adjusting to the new group dynamic without her. This will be a challenge as we will all miss her dearly. We now pick up as a group of 7 for the next coming weeks of our program. We support her in her decision to do what is best for her and we wish her safe travels as she departs back home.
What are you grateful for this week?
This week I am most grateful for the beautiful community we have been brought into at Centro Panta Rei. Panta Rei is an educational farm, agricultural cooperative, and a center for environmental education and an experimentation for sustainable development. It is the largest bio-structure in Italy built according to the principles of green building. Mainly present in the architecture: raw earth, lake reeds and straw. We actually got the chance to rebuild a wall using these priciples! The water comes directly from the source and is purified by phytoremediation. We even did a scavenger hunt throughout the property to help us learn more about their systems.
Throughout this week we have been shown how to build with the earth, using the materials present all around us. Panta Rei is a living, breathing organism, influenced by the current inhabitants. In the beginning of the week, our educational facilitators here were Tom and Chiara both of whom really made an impact on our group with their infectious energy and passion for the community at Panta Rei. We spoke to Tom about his passion for surfing and spent many nights singing and dancing with Chiara. Instantly we felt as if we were just as vital a part of the community as the people who have been there for years. We participated in late night jam sessions, had a karaoke night, learned how to salsa dance, made pizzas, went on beautiful hikes, and played with the farms 13 cats and 3 dogs. (Let’s just say animals at any place are a main highlight for this group!)
Later on in the week, Tom had to leave us to go back to the UK to work as an English teacher but we were joined by another volunteer, Mauro, who has been just as incredble as everyone else here. Mauro taught us how to collect wood which we later on used as wood to heat the oven for our pizzas.
Overall, I am feeling grateful for everything this week. I am grateful for the time I get to spend here with the group that we have. I am grateful for the many people and places we get to share temporary connections with. I am grateful for the community our group has built together. I am grateful for the earth and the beautiful weather it has been gifting us with and lastly I am grateful to just be here.
❤️ Until next time, Spring 2023 Italy & Greece Semester!
