By Maiya Tomlin
This past spring break, Lovett students embarked on a trip to Italy that occurs every two years. They visited numerous cities and managed to eat gelato in each one.
Mr. Crowley was the primary chaperone on the trip, along with Ms. Mellican. Mr. Crowley did most of the itinerary planning. “She helped me run it, but I pre-made it all,” he said.
Mr. Crowley told me that he used the itinerary from previous years, but made some changes. “I cut Sorento and added Pieto,” he told me. Additionally, he “added hiking in Mount Vesuvius.”
Many of the spots weren’t your typical ones. “I hadn’t heard of some of them,” Evvie Bresnahan (10) told me. The notable ones were Florence, Siena, Tuscany, Rome, and Pompei. The one I had never heard of looking through the itinerary was Solerno, but maybe geography just isn’t my strong suit.
I sat down with Quade Edwards (10) and Evvie and asked them a few questions about their experiences. Neither of them had ever been on a Lovett trip before, and neither of them had ever been to Italy before. My immediate question: “What motivated you to go?”
“I mainly went just because it sounded fun, to be honest,” she admitted. She also signed up for the trip without any close friends, which was very brave in my opinion. “I was pretty close with Quade already, but I didn’t go with any best friends,” she told me.
Evvie told me that there were only two other girls on the trip, Zoe Shields (10), and Sophia Hidalgo (9). “Since we were the only three girls, we shared every hotel room, so we got closer,” she said.
They took two flights, the first to Paris (where we did not cross paths (I was there with my mom)) and then the second to Florence. “We spent time a lot of time in Florence, but went to Sienna as like a day trip,” Evvie told me. When I spoke to Devin Austin (10) he told me that Florence was his favorite city out of them all.
While spending time in Florence, the group visited Piazza del Duomo and were able to climb Brunelleschi’s Dome and Giotto’s Bell Tower as well as visit the Baptistery, Museum, and Santa Reparata.
“They got really good gelato in Florence but I couldn’t eat it cause it had nuts in it,” Evvie told me. “I’m at the bottom of the food chain,” she joked.
Quade recalled some of the souvenirs he bought in Florence. “I got a leather wallet and a funny leather hat,” he told me. I asked him what type of hat it was, and he told me, “It looks like one of those French ones, a beret.” Evvie quickly responded “No, no, like a Peaky Blinders hat,” which painted a better picture.
Evvie also told me she got a scarf, a leather purse, and other “silly souvenirs.”
As a group, they powered through the entire first day in an attempt to avoid jet lag and sleep well the first and second night, which they told me was successful.
After a few days in Florence, they visited a farm, which, according to the itinerary, produces “buffalo-milk mozzarella, ricotta & yogurt.” But in the words of Evvie and Quade, the farm “fed us a lot of weird food.”
Quade told me that they ate cow intestines, tongues, and tails. “I tried the intestines before everyone else and told everyone that it was calamari, at least that’s what it tasted like to me, and it looked like pasta,” he said. Everyone, including Evvie, fell for Quade’s trick. “The tongue looked like tongue, though,” Evvie said. “And it was disgusting,” she added.
When I talked to Devin, he told me that he expected to eat “a lot of good pizza and pasta.” I imagine he was slightly alarmed when cow tongue was put in front of him. “We did have some amazing pizza though, Margherita,” Evvie told me and Quade agreed.
After a bit of time exploring the farm and the surrounding area, the group went on a hike on Vesuvius, one of Italy’s volcanos. They also met with a local guide to explore the ruins of Pompeii. “My favorite memory was seeing Pompeii,” Devin told me. Evvie somewhat agreed, but did not hesitate to mention the 25,000 steps she achieved that day.
They finished out the last few days in Rome, exploring places like the Pantheon, the Vatican, and the Colosseum. Evvie and Quade are both Latin students and have been learning the language since 7th grade. Coincidentally, Mr. Crowley is their current Latin teacher. “Technically, Latin is spoken in the Vatican,” Evvie told me. “All the walls too had Latin on them, so it was cool that I could kinda understand it.”
She also added, “There was a lot of ‘via’ everywhere, which just means road, so I understood that.”
Mr. Crowley told me that he has been to Italy many times and he can sort of understand Italian. He told me that he couldn’t speak it, but explained that “when you get to modern language, the basic vocabulary is, well it all just goes back to Latin, and the grammar is easier.”
He also clarified, “I can’t speak it if somebody’s speaking full speed, but if I can pick up a newspaper and be like, eh, something about this, something about that.”
I asked every student I spoke to if they would ever go to Italy again. All of them had the same answer as Zoe, “yes, 100%.” Evvie even told me that if she had the opportunity to study abroad in Italy in college, she’d take it.
As I previously mentioned, the Italy trip occurs every 2 years. I asked Mr. Crowley what cities he plans on adding/taking away for 2027, to which he responded, “That’s a future me problem.” Although in seriousness, he told me that he will always keep Florence in there, which was the fan favorite, as well as Rome and maybe add Sorento back into the mix.
If you’re interested in going to Italy in 2027, pray he’ll consider removing cow tongue and intestines from the itinerary.
