During the Hallowe'en break, from the 26th October to 1st November, 35 pupils and 4 staff travelled to Italy. We visited the major classical sites in Rome, beginning with the Via Appia and the newly-restored tomb of Caecilia Metella, the Circus of Maxentius, the Baths of Caracalla, the Colosseum, the Forum, the Palatine hill and the Circus Maximus, the chariot racing stadium which could hold 250,000, the Capitoline Hill, and the Pantheon. We also explored the early Christian catacombs of Domitilla and made our way through the throngs of visitors in the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. The Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps, and the Via del Corso provided much-anticipated shopping and ice cream. We also spent a day in Ostia, the ancient harbour of Rome, which was far more tranquil than the crowded streets of Rome, and in Tivoli, where the emperor Hadrian built the largest Roman house in the empire. In Tivoli we also visited the gardens of the Villa d'Este, with its fabulous fountains, pools and paths.

For many, the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were the highlight, inhabited now only by wild dogs, with the eerie feeling of wandering around an abandonned city. A climb to Vesuvius provided many pupils with gifts of multi-coloured geological specimens, and in the Naples Museum we were able to see some of the finest mosaics from ancient Italy, including the famous Alexander Mosaic, along with an excellent exhibition on Roman food and dining. This is just a brief summary of our trip; hopefully the photos will give you an idea of the many wonderful things we saw.

Here are some of the photos of the trip.

Via Appia

Caracalla

Palazzo Massimo

Colosseum

Vatican

Ostia

Hadrian's Villa

Villa d'Este

Naples Museum

Pompeii and Herculaneum

Views from Hotels