Day Eight

Sorry for the delay in posting this.  We were exhausted by the end of the trip and then jet-lagged.  So here we are a few days later…

  

At the beginning of day eight we walked to the square where we met the Director of the University of Arkansas at Rome Center (UARC).  Following that, we headed to Villa Farnesina where we toured the house and saw frescoe’s by Rafael and his pupils.  These frescoes were important because they had so many references to plants in them.  We were excited to see the artists bringing the garden indoors.  Once finished with the house we walked outside to enjoy the formal gardens for a bit.

            Next we headed down the street to Orto Botanico, the botanic garden in Trastevere.  It was a relatively new garden for Italian standards, only 150 years old.  Though it was so “young” there were many large trees and palms on the property, which was divided up into several areas: palms, succulents, medicinal plants, roses, ferns, woodland plants, a Japanese garden and so on.  Our favorite parts were the Exhibition Greenhouse, which had revolving art and plant displays and all the old trees, which included a large cinnamon tree, a London Plane Tree, and some of the biggest Agave plants we’d ever seen.

            Following the botanic garden tour we headed to the UARC campus, which turned out to be beautiful.  It is located in an old palace and UARC rents out a portion of it for their facilities.  The rooms sported frescoes on the ceiling and silk-lined walls.  We were wishing we could transport the building back to Auburn.  We were joking that the projects we completed would be magnificent as it would be hard to let a workspace that inspiring down.  At the conclusion of this tour we went around the corner to a restaurant the UARC faculty often frequents.  It was yet another fabulous meal on this trip.

            Following our delicious lunch we headed to the Vatican and toured it’s amazing facilities.  We saw countless pieces of ancient art, from Roman statues to Medieval and Renaissance paintings.  Our favorite places, of course, were the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica (though sadly Leah and I took a wrong turn and weren’t able to see this amazing place- there may have been tears involved when we discovered this).  Despite the missed opportunity, we all agreed that this was a perfect ending to our trip and at the end of the day were happy to sit down and not walk for a while.

            We concluded the night with a delicious meal at our favorite restaurant, just around the corner from our apartments.  This was the place we ate at the first night so we felt it was a fitting place to enjoy our last Italian meal.

            We are so thankful to have had this opportunity and learned so much about the Italian culture, history, and their approach towards gardening.  It was both enjoyable and enlightening.

            Leah and I are again leaving Auburn on Sunday to head to the APGA (American Public Gardens Association) conference in Phoenix.  We’ll be attending with the 5 new Public Horticulture students and Dr. Eakes.  We are excited to see all that Phoenix has to offer and to have this great opportunity to network at a conference with our future colleagues in public horticulture.