Siena and Assisi

This morning we were all able to catch up on some sleep riding on the bus to Siena. We arrived there ahead of schedule so there was free time to wander around the picturesque Piazza del Campo. It's unique in that it is fan or shell shaped and slopped as an amphitheatre.

We learned here that there are 14 neighborhoods in Siena and that the colors of Siena are black and while. Each neighborhood is named for an animal and each sponsors a horse in a very dangerous race, the famous Palio, a 90-second bareback horserace that occurs twice a year. The story reminded me of the "neighborly competition" among the Mummers clubs in Philadelphia.

Next we walked to the Duomo in Sienna. The outside was breathtaking. Still, as with most cathedrals and basilicas, the interior was even more spectacular, with floor mosaics, paintings, and an incredible dome.



Mrs. Campbell was especially interested in singing in the Cathedral, and so we did.


Afterwards, we visited a remarkable side chapel where the old illuminations of Gregorian Chants were on display. Not only was the room itself magnificent, but the choir books were so impressive and especially meaningful to a group such as ours.

It always feels a little spooky to be in so grand a Church. Standing under its lofty domes made me fell so small and insignificant, yet so fortunate and blessed at the same time. Italian artists and architects really do their best to reveal what heavenly paradise must be like. Despite the beauty of the Italian country side, and it is BEAUTIFUL, the image intended is that ours is a plain and mundane existence compared to what awaits us in life with God.

After a quick break for lunch, we continued on to Assisi, the town that many on the trip claim to be their favorite place in Italy. The instant we could see the city from our bus, I understood why. Though the skys continued to threaten and an occasional sprinkle did arrive, we continued to benefit from exceptionally good weather.


The town was wrapped around a tall mountain with the Basilica of Saint Francis dominating the view. We got to our beautiful hotel, where we quickly grabbed our performance attire and left to visit the Basilica before our second concert.

A long stroll through the town, with stops to admire the view from the mountain brought us to the Bascilica of St. Clare - "the little plant of St. Francis," as she like to call herself. Unfortunately, we could only stop for a moment to venerate the remains of Clare and to see the famous Crucifix of San Damiano, which is said to have inspired the conversion of St. Francis in 1205.



It was a surprisingly long, but downhill walk to the Basilica of St. Francis and the church’s entrance. There, our guide Stefano told us about the frescos by Giotto, which tell the life of St. Francis - another Art History favorite. Not only are the originals remarkable, but that they had been destroyed by earthquake in 2001 and completely restored again was almost too much to comprehend.

There are no words to describe how it felt to enter this sacred space. It was a strange sort of peace I experienced with roommate Lisa, as we walked through the nave of the church down to the lower Basilica. We spent some time admiring the mosaics before descending another staircase to the tomb of Saint Francis. Knowing that I was standing so close to Saint Francis was overwhelming - a genuine blessing on this trip, the culmination of our Franciscan pilgrmage. Too soon it was time to get into our "concert garb" and head for rehearsal.

Our second concert was just as wonderful as the first and yet again this even larger church was almost packed! An adorable, elderly man in the front row stood to applaud after every soloist's presentation. A whole group of women circled me after the concert, trying to thank us for coming and to congratulate me "for such strong, high notes." Yes, CCVA is habit forming, for reasons too numerous to count!

It was an inspiring night that we discussed at length over dinner. The restaurant was large, which allowed for a few songs, a dance, and a solo from Dominic. A very good time was had by all. I was sad to leave Assisi, but excited for even things more spectacular were to come.

PS. It was here that the Campbell family met Italian relatives that they had discovered using the internet and email. What a moment for them all!

Montecatini - Monsummano

This morning, we were treated to a slightly later 7:00 AM wake-up call and were soon back on the bus to travel from our hotel in Montecatini back to Florence for the day. This time, we were there for a walking tour of the city, which fortunately mostly took place in the shade!

Our first stop was the church where Dante was inspired to write The Divine Comedy. I immediately thought of reading The Inferno with Father Joe and fellow Villanova classmates in our first semester Augustine and Culture Seminar. What a fantastic work of literature! And the seminar was not too shabby either - a great freshman introduction to academic life at Villanova. Thanks Fr. Joe! But I digress .....

Located on a very small side street, more like an alleyway, this was a simple village church, but significant nonetheless. Can you imagine being able to stop at a place like this for morning prayer on your way to work? To our surprise, just at the end of the street, we found an actor performing scenes from The Inferno! Too cool, even in this heat.


After walking through several beautiful public squares, each filled with large and beautiful statues, we ended our guided tour at Santa Croce, the "Westminster Abbey" of Florence. Sprinkled through the magnificent church are the graves of important Italian masters, Michelangelo, Galileo, Rossini, and my personal favorite, Dante, to name just a few.



Yet again, I am overwhelmed by the rich history of European countries such as Italy. How did they accomplish so much with what seems to us as so little? No computers, nothing like the heavy duty machinery we use for building sky scrapers?. Amazing!

The tour concluded with a quick song for our tour guides and then it was off for lunch on our own. A small group of us decided to check out a pizzeria and what a surprise I was in for! As soon as we placed our order, a server, from semmingly out of no where, reached around me and drew a riddle on my placemat. We had no idea what the picture meant, and we thought we had seen the last of him. To our surprise, he continued to stop by our table to talk to me. There were even a couple of back massages!

My "friends" quickly dubbed him “Emily’s Italian boyfriend.” Well, he did give me a quick kiss on the cheek as we left the restaurant. First, a hug in England, now a kiss in Italy. My friends back at home will be so proud! But alas, there are no pictures as far as I know.

After lunch the group traveled back to the hotel to get ready for our first liturgy and concert in Monsummano Terme. I would never have imagined how beautiful and ornate the inside of the church would be from its rustic exterior. It was small and intimate but surprisingly grand at the same time - an interesting paradox that I think describes many of Europe’s churches. The name of the church, Basilica Santuario di Maria S.S. della Fontenouva, was certainly grand as well.

We had time for a quick rehearsal before Mass. And yet, it wasn't until the Sign of the Cross, that it hit us that Mass would be in Italian - duh. :) As we listened, watched and prayed, it occurred to me that this is really what we mean when we speak of the universal nature of the Catholic faith. No mater what language is used to pray the Mass, every Catholic can follow, can experience the beauty and power of the prayer. What we believe is relevant, really fundmental to every thing.

Even though we couldn’t understand a word of the lengthy Italian homily, (There was a mention of the closing of the Jubilee Year of Paul and the upcoming Year of the Priesthood, I think.) I loved watching the attention that those assembled gave the celebrant. Nobody reads the bulletin, eats a snack, chats with a neighbor or nods off in Italy.

After the final hymn, we were rushed by the locals for hand shakes and expressions of thanks. It was hard to leave for dinner.

Our restaurant had such a great local feel, and the wait staff served us with lightening speed at our request - a major offense to standard Italian form, I am sure. The grandfatherly owner was so cute! He gathered the whole family for our "Bless You and Keep You" tribute, which left them and most of our parents in tears. I'm pretty sure that he shook the hand or kissed the cheek of every member of our traveling show as we left!

In a blink, we were back at the church for the first presentation! The place was packed and things couldn’t have gone better.




It's at these moments when you understand the power of music sung with passion for the glory of God - when we're lucky enough catch a glimpse of an old man singing along to Salve Regina, (There were several times tonight where it truely did seem more like a "sing along" than a concert. The people here were just remarkable.) or the woman in the first row sobbing through Amazing Grace. Singing for them was such a privilege. It's thier heartfelt responses to what we do that make the CCVA experience so deep, so rich.

We sang "Bless You and Keep You" outside in the square for a finale and the Pastor made a brief presentation to Mrs. Campbell. What an incredible first moment!

It was late when we finally make it back to our hotel, and Lisa and I collapsed into bed exhausted, hoping to get sufficient sleep before another early wake-up call!

Florence and David

We woke up bright and early this morning to head back to the mainland by boat and load our things on the bus that would become our second home for the next nine days. Seats were quickly claimed, and the three hour bus ride went surprisingly fast between alternating activities of napping and playing Euchre, the official card game of CCVA.

After a break to admire the beautiful landscape of the highway, we soon found ourselves being dropped off in front of the Academia in Florence, part of Italy’s Tuscany region. I became more and more excited to see Michelangelo’s David as we entered the museum, thinking of how many more AP Art History masterpieces I would finally be seeing in person on this trip. Stefano and Ilaria made a special effort to let us know that many of the statues and paintings would include naked bodies. From their continual emphasis on what I thought was a well known fact, I can only imagine that many American groups must be taken by surprise.

(No photography is allowed in the Academia, the pictures below are stock photos that were easily found on the internet. I include them here, just for effect.)


Be that as it may, the sculpture was so much larger than I had anticipated, absolutely astounding with the skill it must have taken to sculpt such lifelike muscles and veins out of stone.

I also took some time to take in the ‘prisoner’ statues leading the way to the David. Michelangelo’s belief that there was a living spirit inside each block of stone he worked with, and that it was his job to release that spirit was clearly evident in these unfinished works. It truly did look as though the unfinished masses - slaves were climbing out from the stones that held them, a truly inspiring room of art.

After our visit to the Academia, there was free time in Florence. I spent time with my parents walking along the Ponte de Vecchio and looking at jewelry that we could only afford in our wildest dreams. The market there is substantial. Gold, leather and straw are among the treasures found there.

Later, when the heat got to be a little too much for comfort, we took a break by visiting the massive Duomo, the Cathedral of Florence, which among many other wonderful things, included air conditioning - well it certainly felt like it.

We were actually surprised at how beautiful the interior of the Duomo was, considering that our guides seemed to feel that it was "plain" by Italian standards. We found the ceiling and stained glass windows brilliant, and well worth seeing. It did seem however, that most of the adults in the group wanted to visit the large market and jewelry shops that make Philadelphia's diamond district look small.

We met up with the group before heading back to the hotel for dinner and some night time swimming. It was a great day despite another day of near 95 degree heat.

Glass Blowing and Gondolas

Our first full day in Italia was magnificent. We had our delicious hotel breakfast on the porch overlooking the town before heading off to our first city tour, beginning at Saint Mark’s Cathedral.

Visiting such grand churches as these never gets old - never disappoints. Each seems more uniquely stunning than the last. As usual, there was no indoor photography allowed.

The most fascinating lesson learned here is that the church floods regularly! That's why the stone floor has become so irregular. It's like a miniature putt-putt green with more roll and pitch than a par 4. More amazing is that all of the art work inside is not painted, but because of the moisture everything is really glass mosaics. Our guide showed us the size of the small pieces close up and explained that any gold piece was painted with gold leaf, then glued to the surface. Unbelievable! The church’s amazing façade and those of nearby buildings are simply incredible.

Then our city guide took us through the quaint, winding streets of Venice and led us to the Grand Canal. Once, Italy had been at the cross roads of European commerce. The Rialto market and famous bridge, still attract tourists by the "boat loads" (It is actually the only way to get there!) but they have lost the status of an earlier time.

Next on our agenda was the Murano Glass Blowing Factory. I’ve always been fascinated by glass and was thrilled to see a presentation by a Murano “glass master.” He demonstrated how to make a hand crafted vase. We were all impressed with the time, dedication, and skill it takes to make even the smallest jewelry bead out of glass and were happy to be given some time to shop at the Murano factory.

Although many of the glasses, plates, and sculptures were way out of my price range, I purchased a green beaded necklace and matching earrings that are quickly becoming my favorite pieces of jewelry; a perfect reminder of my time in Venice!

After the tour, we were given free time for the remainder of the afternoon, a rare occurrence for anyone who has previously toured with CCVA! We went shopping, of course, and I found a really neat little leather store, where the owner makes journals by hand in the loft of her store. She showed me the ladder and door to her upstairs where sheets of leather and chord were hanging, ready to be used for her products. When I saw how much work went into one of her little journals how could I not buy one?

Then, it was back to the hotel to relax before our afternoon gondola ride! Lisa, John, Meghan, Mike, Molly and I all packed into our tiny boat to cruise down the smaller canals in Venice and spend some time talking and taking pictures.

Unbeknownst to me, Dad had "done the steps" at the Bell Tower of St. Mark's! The view is amazing, as you can see from his pictures.

We ended our second day in Venice with another wonderful dinner and some more free time to take an evening stroll out by the water. What a great end to our stay in Venice!

Andiamo Incognito

We met "promptly" in the parking lot at Ss. Simon and Jude Church. There two buses and almost 90 black shirted pilgrims were ready to make the short trip to Newark for our evening departure to Munich, Germany.

Though the skys were overcast, our spirits were bright and sunny! I'll be having a little extra sunshine with me every day in Italy this year, regardless of the weather! For the first time, my parents will be traveling with CCVA - as an early 25th wedding anniversary present. So if you see a few pictures of me with two adults in particular, now you know why.

Check in at Newark International went smoothly. The CCVA travel uniform always attracts a little attention and even results in a spontaneous, but occasionally inconvenient request for a song. I hate to admit it, but last year's orange shirts were a little more effective. As it turns out, a lot of people wear black these days.

In all my excitement I was unable to sleep on either the nearly eight hour plane ride to Munich or the short commuter flight to Venice, but before I knew it, we were finally in Italy!

At the airport we met our two tour managers, Ilaria and Stefano, who would be there with us every step of the way as we traveled across Italy. Once we all got our luggage stowed away on yet another bus, the group hopped on a taxi boat for a forty-five minute ride from the mainland to Venice, where many of my fellow performers found some valuable time to nap after taking some quick pictures of the picturesque scenery around us. (There is a long story with a happy ending about my mom's luggage, but I'll not bore you with it here. Thanks to all those who volunteered to lend a helping hand.)

It was exactly as I had imagined it would be: rustic, charming and distinctly Italian. On dry land again, we walked to our hotel, passing through Saint Mark’s Square and admiring both the Cathedral and Bell Tower. Our thoughts drifted back to our time at Disney World’s Epcot as we got ready for dinner - as close to Italy as many of us thought we would ever get. Finally it began to dawn on us that the experience we had been preparing for since January was officially underway.

Lisa and I were thrilled at the chance to finally be roommates. We spent some time checking out our lovely hotel room and relaxing, before changing out of our infamous black shirt "travel outfits’ and meeting the rest of the group in the lobby to walk to dinner.

Despite our general exhaustion, we were able to enjoy the rest of our first evening in Venice - a delicious meal - pasta first, then a small meat course, then salad and dessert. No doubt, this year we would be having the best food yet!

Preliminaries at Simon & Jude

Farewell Concert at Simon and Jude

Well, it's that time again. I can't believe we will be on our way to Italy tomorrow... But first a few notes about our Friday evening concert.

This year's group is very talented and our repertoire contains a few new twists. Among the songs we'll be doing are a South African chant, a New Zealand Maori lullaby, only one American spiritual :( ... and a variety of well known classics: Panis Angelicus, Salve Regina, Laudate Dominum, and a special presentation of O Magnum Mysterium among others. Student member Dominic Gentile accompanies the choir several times on the flute and Carter Green plays the violin / fiddle during intermission.

The turn out on Friday was unusually large. We appreciate all of the parishes that included a note about the concert in Sunday bulletins. We especially thank the Daily Local News, West Chester Life and KYW 1060 for their pre-concert coverage. And as always, a big thank you to our CCVA alumni, our "every year" groupies, to the IHMs, who always stop by to cheer us on, and all the new friends we made. Don't forget to see us in July upon our return!