Croatia Trip - Split and Trojir

Recently, some 46 CCI student accompanied by 8 faculty and staff travelled to visit Split and Trojir in Croatia.

We left CCI right after school ended on Friday afternoon and travelled on the CCI bus to Ancona boarding our ferry boat for the overnight journey to Split. It was a warm evening and the Adriatic Sea was calm giving us a smooth passage.

At 7:00 a.m. the next morning we disembarked in Split and walked to our hostel to drop off our luggage. The students were thrilled with the rooms. They didn’t care that they were clean and tidy. Rather, what excited them was the computer access in each room. It was a race to see who get on Facebook first!

There is a wonderful Saturday morning green market that occurs whereby farmers bring in their fresh produce for sale. The pastries were also a hit with everyone.

Morning tours were conducted of the Diocletian Palace. The Roman Emperor Diocletian returned to his birthplace in Salona near Split towards the end of his career and launched a ten year building programme of his fortified retirement home. When it was finished, around 305 AD the entire structure covered 31,000 sq. m. One can see from the photos that the streets, the imperial palace, military fortress and fortified town were built of the local limestone which looks and feels remarkably like marble. Attending to details, Diocletian imported marble columns from Italy and Greece as well as sphinxes from Egypt. Today, it is the most extant Roman ruin and remains an impressive site to tour.

Modern day Split surrounds the palace. The palace itself is a thriving commercial centre. Its narrow streets flow into and emerge out of a number of open courtyards housing many shops and outdoor cafes. There is a healthy mix of the modern and ancient worlds.

Following the tours, students went off for lunch before the afternoon tours. Many found their ways to the courtyard cafes or those along the waterfront adjacent to the western wall of the palace. This is a busy tourist area as well as a delightful place to eat and to people watch.  

In the afternoon, we toured the underground caverns, in essence the storage and workshop areas of Diocletian’s imperial palace. An ancient stone olive oil press still stands, seemingly ready for use. One could imagine the storage of grains, water, spices and other necessities in these massive chambers. We all found ourselves marvelling at the intricate brickwork evidenced in the walls themselves

Students were given time in the late afternoon for shopping and to go and enjoy dinner out with their classmates before retiring for the night.



The Waterfront at Split

Late Sunday morning, we took a local bus to and from Trojir some 40 minutes away. Like Diocletian’s Palace, this is another fortified town built of limestone on the coast. Both are a tangle of narrow curving streets that weave and seemingly wander through the town. Some are barely wider than one’s shoulders! Unlike the one massive church tower in Split, Trojir boasts a number of such bell towers.

Originally settled by the Greeks and followed by the Romans, Trojir was finally settled by the Coats in the 6^th C. Between the 10^th C and 14^th C, the Croats tried to fend off the Venetians until they finally fell to them. For the next four centuries, Trojir was occupied and inhabited by the Venetians until Napoleon dominated it. From then on it changed hands a few more times before it came back into the control of the Croats.

 

Trojir



Narrow Streets - wide enough for two

The fortress that guards the harbour

After spending an afternoon touring this town and its fort at the mouth of the harbour, we returned to Split in time to collect our luggage and board the ferry for our return overnight trip to Ancona.

 

It was a weary 54 people who disembarked on Monday morning. Strange as it may seem for having lived for only a month in Italy, but it felt like we were home.

The noise level on the bus during our return to Lanciano was minimal as almost half the students were asleep during the journey.

Cruel Head of School that I am, classes were scheduled for the students that afternoon.

                             

The Feste

In Lanciano, the annual harvest festival known as Feste dominates the life of the townspeople. During the week leading up to this event, there is a harvest parade known as the Il Duono where bountiful farm produce is literally paraded through the town. A good portion of it is auctioned off that evening with the proceeds being donated to local charities.

But the celebrations really kick in during the week of Feste. And they start early in the morning, in fact at 4:00 a.m. on the Tuesday morning! We were warned about this and advised that there would be fireworks going off at that time marking the end of summer and the beginning of the harvest season.

We all like fireworks, right?

Now imagine, our night after a long day of work. We went for a stroll with our dog, Toby in the evening and took a passing interest in the crews setting up lights and sound for the concert scheduled to start later that evening in the main piazza that our apartment overlooks. So far, so good, right? The concert started at 11:30 p.m. (In Italy, the 24 hour clock is used which lulls one into thinking that somehow 23:30 is not late. After all, there is no ‘pm’ indicator to suggest that this might be starting a little late to allow for a good night’s sleep. But I digress.) As with most concerts, it was enjoyable but loud and difficult to sleep through, try as we might. The concert ended after 2:00 a.m. and we drifted off to sleep even though we knew that fireworks were to be ignited a mere two hours later. We never made it that far. At 3:00 a.m., we were awakened by a blast of cannon fire. This is the cannon in the clock tower that borders the piazza that is fired at noon everyday to alert the farmers that it is lunch time. (No need for lunch break whistles here!) So we drifted off again at “T minus 50 minutes” before the fireworks.       

We North Americans are used to fireworks displays that are colourful and which make whizzing and hissing sounds with the odd one making a relatively loud bang. Those are not the characteristics of Italian fireworks displays.  

You know those WW2 movies that show the night bombardment of towns? That is what it was like. Sudden flashes of light lit up the houses and buildings. The night sky was punctuated by daylight flashes. The explosions ripped through the air and echoed in the distant hills. The air compressed with each explosion rattling the windows. This extravaganza lasted for a half hour. By 4:30, we thought that we could have a few hours of blessed sleep before the sun broke over the eastern horizon. How naive we were.

No one told us about the marching band!

How on earth could we have known that a marching band would start up and march up and down the street for the next hour or so? By that time, sleep was impossible and we were looking for strong coffee...lots of strong, strong coffee.

    

No wonder the townsfolk have a siesta in the afternoon. 

The main corso or street is specially decorated for these nights with a gorgeous display of colourful lights that turn the night into mid-day. Crews spend two full days erecting the platforms and testing the lights to ensure that the town looks just right for the multitude of visitors that make Lanciano the object of this harvest pilgrimage. 

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings usher in a spectacle of communal open air dining. In the main piazza and in a large parking area adjacent to the market, dozens of bench picnic tables are set up in anticipation of the feast that awaits the festival goers. There is a tradition of eating porchetta and celery at this time of the year. (Don’t ask why, it’s tradition.) People reserve tables for their families and guests and a night of boisterous feasting is enjoyed by all. The simplicity of the menu belies the bounty of celery and pork available each night. The porchetta is sliced from large spit-roasted pigs that have been cooking for at least eight hours. The celery is extraordinarily larger by North American standards and much sweeter. It makes for a wonderfully filling meal, all for 5 euros. Sitting on those benches, surrounded by family, neighbours and friends, one can’t help but be struck by the joy that Italians have in each other and indeed in the simple pleasures of life itself.

Faces of the Feste

                        Before and After

Thursday morning was a special day at CCI as it was Mrs. D’Alessandro’s birthday. We started the day with a reception and a birthday cake.

On Thursday evening, the last night of the Feste and in advance of most of the feasting, the Madonna, the patron saint of Lanciano is taken out of the Basilica and carried by the townsfolk up the corso in a solemn but celebratory parade - a clear expression of the centrality of faith in their community.

 

As expected, the four days of festivities ends with fireworks...this time starting mercifully at 12:30 a.m.   

Starting early on Friday, crews start to dismantle the light platforms, stack up the tables, and take down the signs showing the schedules all of which somehow signals a change in the seasons from summer to fall.                   

Settling In

Everyone at CCI is settling into the routines of school and daily life in Lanciano.

The daily rhythm of school life is a blend of modern and medieval lifestyle. First of all, the school building itself was built as a house in the 14thC. Located on what is now a typically narrow street in the oldest part of the town, the front doors of this house (which are intact and still in use) are designed to allow a horse and wagon to enter; students, faculty and staff now enter through a much smaller door cut into the larger doors. Where there is now tile, one can imagine a dirt floor leading to what must have been the stalls. As one proceeds into the main hall, one passes the well (now closed) on the left hand side. The back half of the hall opens up four storeys to the sky above. Now there is a plexi-glass roof. It is in the main hall that we eat breakfast together on weekdays. Following breakfast, we have Morning Announcements and the day begins. The remaining food from breakfast is kept in a small common room so that everyone who wishes to have snack may do so throughout the day.



Our Front Door - Note the small 'human entrance' on the right hand door



The day begins at CCI



Each student has four 80 minute classes per day – two in the morning and two after lunch. Classes tend to be small and are located throughout the four storey building. Interior hallways adjoining the classrooms overlook the main hall and are accessed by a sweeping staircase. Believe me, there is plenty of exercise being had as everyone is up and down stairs all day long not only inside the school but outside on  the streets as Lanciano is built on hills. 

      

Most of our meals are held at The Allegria restaurant. a few minutes walk away. Once again there are stairs to contend with. Depending on the route one takes, one could face climbing some 64 steps to enter the restaurant! Once everyone has recovered a normal heart and breathing rate they are greeted by a buffet of fresh produce, meat and pasta. There are several rooms that the students eat in. There is always lively conversation and laughter to be heard throughout the meal.

  

After classes, the students return to their residences. Cavour, the boys’ residence is along Via Cavour from the school, while the girls’ residence, Santa Maria the larger of the two, is located one street up from the school on Via Santa Maggiore. Residences are not open to the students during the day in order them to be cleaned. Following a short break, extracurricular sports and clubs are offered.



Ms. Tozzi



Mrs. WIlliams



In the evening, dinner is held at the Allegria at 7:00 p.m. most nights except on Tuesdays and Saturdays, where it held at The Mercato. Following dinner, the students have free time until curfew at 8:15 p.m. There is a mandatory supervised 2 hour study period each night. The Residence Dons who supervise the students in the evening are Ms. Victoria Tozzi and Mrs. Kathryn Williams in Santa Maria and at Cavour, Ms. Martha Cioccoppo and Mr. Pino Ucci. 'Lights out' is at 11:30 p.m.



Ms. Cioccoppo



Mr. Ucci

On weekends, the students have much more free time. We have been organizing trips and experiences so that they become familiar with the region on Saturdays, leaving Sunday open for them to complete their assignments and relax.

This past Saturday, the teachers took the students to Pescara. We spent a couple of hours at a large mall called Megalo so that they could do some shopping. We followed that up with a trip to Pescara’s main street or corso which is closed to vehicular traffic. Pescara’s architecture is a much more modern and reminds one of the architecture of cities in North America and stands in stark contrast to the architecture of Lanciano and many other towns in the region. Nevertheless, a leisurely stroll down this wide street lined with shops and cafes, takes one down to a lovely and expansive beach. Should students want to visit Pescara in future, they can do so via a short train ride from Lanciano for just over two Euros.       

In our next blog, we will talk about the Feste, the annual celebration of the harvest and about our trip to Croatia.