Submitted by Samantha Epperson on the 2024 Winter ENGL program in Italy…
Today we did a guided tour of Santa Croce Basilica and I really enjoyed it. I am not religious but the church is beautiful inside and out, and I learned so much I did not know before. I did not do a lot of research before I came here on Italian history or art/culture which makes things like this morning’s tour really fun because I am learning so much new information that I did not know before. I also really love looking at sculptures so it was amazing to see the fine details on all of the tombs. We do not see a lot of art in our day to day lives in the United States. I also love learning about history, I am a huge history nerd. So I thoroughly enjoyed the tour guide going into depth about the Medici family and how Italy was divided and did not even reunify until after the United States had gained independence. I also thought the tidbit about Galileo was so incredibly interesting and such a crazy story to hear about how his body was missing when they opened the coffin to try and bury him properly. Another part I loved of the tour was hearing about the historical soccer there and how it is every single year. I have played rugby for almost 9 years now so I am really into more physical sports and I love the aspect that it is such a huge thing in the community that it is bigger than the holidays. It reminds me (on a much larger scale) of how in my hometown we have a football game between the rival high schools every year on thanksgiving day in the morning and it is such a huge deal everyone in the town goes to it and it is just such a nice sense of community, nad it is really awesome to see that in other cultures and on a much larger scale. (Submitted on January 28, 2024)