Today was the first our Tuesday day trips within Italy for the semester.  Like last semester we started in Genova.  It was a very chilly day with some light rain in the morning, but everyone seemed to do well despite the yucky weather.  Luca tells us that we want rainy weather in January, as it will make for a nice spring, I sure hope that he is right!  We first started at the overlook in Casteletto where Giudi pointed out the main features of the city.  Something that I learned today that I must have missed last semester is that the land of Genova and the port in Genova have been planned in zones separately. 

As I have previously mentioned Genova is built on land between the mountain and the sea and bracketed by two river valleys, therefore there are many stairs to get from top to the bottom by foot or vice versa, or a lot of switchback roads if traveling by car or scooter.  But thankfully for those that aren’t able to make the walk up and down the stairs, there are funiculars and ascensores, which are public lifts.  There is an ascensore at the tip of Casteletto (the area of town we live in) which takes you down to the main part of Genova, connecting you to centro (downtown) and the historical district. 

Today’s excursion took us all over Genova, but we spent a great deal of our time at Chiesa San Lorenzo, Genova’s Duomo.  This was a special treat as we did not get to enter it last semester as they were closed.  Some of the cathedrals within Italy are open only in the morning hours.  The inside of it was amazing and I am hoping that Nick got some nice pictures of the interior.  The chiesa (church) also houses the Museum of Treasures beneath it, the space was designed specifically for the pieces that are displayed within it. 

Before ending our tour for the morning our final stop was Piazza San Matteo, this is an area of town where one of the most powerful families of Genova lived, the Doria’s.  While the students had a required sketch time Nick and I slipped off quickly to grab a caffe and cioccolato (hot chocolate) to try to warm ourselves up.  While it was not the best that I have had while in Italy (man am I getting spoiled), it did the trick of warming me up. 

We made our way to The Ducal Palace where Giudi gave us a another brief overview of the city, using a map which is displaced in the courtyard.  Unfortunately when the map was installed they did not consider that an small Italian professor would be utilizing it within her field trips and placed it a little too high for Giudi.  Thankfully Nick is still in need of his crutches and she was able to borrow one to use as her pointer. I was thrilled that we ended our morning at the Ducal Palace and even more thrilled that Nick remembered Luca mentioned to him awhile back that there was a great Lebanese restaurant nearby.  We quickly made our way over there and had a delicious lunch before making our way back to meet up with the group to finish the rest of the afternoon which would take us to the port.