Junior School trip to Italy

A group of very lucky Buckswood children from Form One, visited Florence and Venice in June. The trip was led by head of junior school, Mr. Cassidy, assisted by Mrs. Siobhan Hart-Jones. The group flew to Venice International Airport and based themselves at the Hotel Al Sole in Treviso, a hotel that Buckswood has used for the annual Form One trip to Italy over many years. The group visited Florence, a journey which took just under two hours by express train. It is a city that Mr. Cassidy knows well, having served as the junior school principal at the International School of Florence. The highlight of a very wet and thundery day was a personal tour of the Palazzo Vecchio, which boasts a history second to none.

The children saw areas of this seat of historical political administration (the Mayor of Florence still has his office there) which others do not often see. They saw magnificent 16th century frescos and paintings, and original sculptures by Michelangelo. A professional actress, in full Medieval costume, played the part of the wife of Cosimo De Medici, a ruler of Florence in the fifteenth century, and the children were invited with their teachers, into her magnificent bed chamber (!) for a personal audience with her.

Then to the much-loved and very romantic Ponte Vecchio, where the children learnt about the leniency extended to it by Hitler who ordered the bombing of other great bridges across the Arno during the Second World War. From there, it was a short walk to the Da Vinci Museum, where there were many hands-on exhibits and audio-visual aids to inspire and educate.

The group had lunch in Santa Croce, the final resting places of Michelangelo and Dante (of Dante's Inferno fame.) Mr. Cassidy was able to tell the children about Dante and gave them an account of the devastating floods of Autumn 1966, when the Arno burst its banks, something that had a terrible impact on the city and on the Santa Croce area, with the loss of a number of lives. And so to the Piazza Duomo with the awe-inspiring Duomo (cathedral) and adjacent Baptistry. Mr. Cassidy told the children about the construction of the Duomo and drew their attention to some of the features that place this remarkable architectural treasure in the premier league of world-famous buildings.

The ghosts of the Medici showed mercy the next day, for the children enjoyed a day of sunshine without rain whilst visiting one of the most romantic cities in the world – Venice. The group visited the island of Murano, where they watched craftsmen at work in the glass workshops which have made this island so famous. The glass on display in scores of retail outlets throughout the island proved to be a constant source of wonder for the children. The group was treated to a wonderful display in the art of glass ornament creation by the king of craftsmen on the island, Gino Mazzuccato, himself. He is a sixty-six year old craftsman of the finest order, having begun his craft at the tender age of ten! Gino created vases and intricate glass horses from glowing lumps of molten lava at the end of what appeared to the children to be a medieval trumpet. To demonstrate how long the finished glass items take to cool, Gino placed a piece of tissue paper over a completed vase which had been resting for many minutes and the tissue immediately burst into flames! From the workshops of Gino Mazzuccato, with its sweltering furnaces, to the tranquillity of Lele's restaurant. This incredible man - a culinary legend - was waiting for the children and greeted them as if they were his own. The sun was strong and the temperature wholly conducive to eating al fresco.

Lasagne, penne, fries and tiramisu sustained the children until their dinner at the Antico Cason in treviso later in the day. From Murano to St. Mark's Square where we watched the two bronze 'bell strikers' strike four o'clock on the famous St.

Mark's clock which the boys swept through carpets of pigeons sending them soaring high into the air, as the girls covered their heads! The waterbus carried the group along the Grand Canal - with its impressive architecture which has changed little since Canaletto recorded its beauty on canvass – under the Rialto Bridge and to the Gondolas which were waiting for us. "Buckswood School?" shouted the gondoliers, "Come!" The children loved exploring the silent, hidden canals that are accessible only by boat and by gondola.

There is an incredible sense of calm to be found in the backwaters. Brandon, Toby, Harley and Kayleigh greeted everyone they met with a loud, "CIAO!!!" Being Italy, everyone shouted "CIAO!!!" back at them. The group returned to the UK with a group of happy young students for whom the short trip had facilitated a greater independence.

They had gained knowledge and a range of new experiences, and had fallen in love with Italy, like so many before them. We hope that their few days away with the school will lead them to re-acquaint themselves one day with the country and, in doing so, recall their trip with a sense of satisfaction and of nostalgia.