Loreto and Beyond

You’ve probably been wondering what we’ve been up to over the last month. Well, just before we left for Berlin we were offered a job teaching a one-month intensive course for the Italian Air Force in a town on the Adriatic Sea called Loreto. This is the location of the Air Force’s language school, and since it’s basically in the middle of nowhere there aren’t many permanent teachers over there. Washington School said they’d pay for our hotel and give us a really good salary for this one month of work. We jumped on the opportunity knowing that during the weekends we’d have great chances to visit some cities in the area that we haven’t seen yet.

As we said, Loreto is in the middle of nowhere though it is a very popular destination for Catholics and Christians alike. Why you ask? Well because the local church holds the house/manger that Jesus Christ himself was born in. The next question you ask yourself is how did His house get to a mountain top in the middle of nowhere? Well, obviously angels flew the house from Bethlehem to Loreto. Duh! So for the Italian Air Force it’s an important place because the saint of this town is the Patron Saint of Aviators, Madonna Nera. Being as the house was flown to Loreto it only makes sense that she watches over aviators. Anyway, you can still go inside the cathedral and walk into the house and get your pray on.

By Saturday we had already taken the necessary 25 minutes to completely view everything in Loreto. On Sunday of the first weekend, one of Charles’ students, Davide, offered to take us on a little tour of the area along the Adriatica. He had never been in the area either so it was a good opportunity for all of us. We were recommended a couple places in the area. We visited Numana, Sirillo and Monte Conero, basically these are tiny seaside towns that offer some beautiful views and great weather. Unfortunately for us, it was not summer so it was really, really cold and windy while we were wandering around. But that didn’t deter us from getting some beautiful pictures and having a good time with Davide.

With Davide overlooking the Adriatic

The following weekend we had an offer from two of Allie’s students, Massimo and Ivan, to go to The Republic of San Marino. This a tiny, tiny country in the region of Emilia-Romagna. It’s one of the smallest countries in the world but it’s kind of fun to “get out” of Italy for a day so we thought why not? Basically, Italians go to get tax-free cigarettes and for some odd reason, medieval weapons and air guns. It seemed as if every shop was selling one of those three. We hiked up the hill to get what should have been one of the most spectacular views in “Italy” from the top of San Marino you should be able to see all the way to the Adriatic Sea. As luck would have it, there was heavy fog all day! The weather was great on top of the hill but the surrounding low lands were foggy as could be. Anyway, we had a nice lunch and did some more exploring. There are some truly cool sights to see. The castles seem to be something right out of a movie. Hopefully the pictures will do them some justice.

Massimo, Allie and Ivan in San Marino

A view of one of the castles on the hill in San Marino

We were also very fortunate to be invited to Verona for the weekend to stay with one of Charles’ students and his family. Verona is about a three and a half hour drive from Loreto, but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see this city with a real local! Giancarlo and his family were so accommodating and sweet, we had a wonderful time! We played about six hundred games of chess with his daughter Denise, and his son Mattia had a soccer match that weekend so we went out to support him (he scored 4 goals!!). His wife Gabriella cooked us some delicious meals even with two pre-teens and a five-month-old to care for!

Giancarlo, Gabriella, Denise, baby Federico, Mattia and Allie

Verona is a beautiful city, and we had excellent weather. In the center we went to the balcony of Romeo and Juliet (Charles is groping her because it’s tradition and it brings good luck). The balcony is surprisingly underwhelming. It's just a small and very normal seeming balcony. We also had the chance to visit some characteristic villages in the area and have a taste of Veronese cooking (Charles tried donkey!).

Charles molesting Juliet

Every weekend was something new and we were treated so well by our students and we will never forget them. As a parting gift, they created a hilarious picture of all of us and then they had it framed. As soon as they send us the email we will put it up. It was a stressful time from the start but also so rewarding (not just in terms of money!). All of our students have the big test this week and we’re pulling for them to make it through with flying colors.

Allie and her class

Charles and his class