2011 Freshman Trip Itinerary

(Please note some very minor changes to April 12/13, mainly involving the swapping of Colosseum and Capitoline Museum.)

Saturday, April 2

• 7:30am - All students arrive at Phoenix Sky Harbor
• 10:20am - Depart Phoenix

Sunday, April 3 - Athens: Acropolis Museum

• 5:30pm - Touch down in Athens
• 6:30pm - Arrive AthenStyle guesthouse
• 7pm - Dinner, Athens stroll

Monday, April 4 - Athens: Day-trip to Mycenae, Epidaurus

• 9am - Mycenae: Ruins from the land of Agamemnon and Menelaus 
• 1:30pm - Epidaurus: Home to the ancient world's perfect theater

Tuesday, April 5 - Athens: Acropolis, Agora, National Archaeological Museum

• 8am - Acropolis: The defining landmark of Ancient Greece
  
• 10:15am - The brand new Acropolis Museum
• 1:30pm - Agora: The center of Athenian democracy
  

Wednsday, April 6 - Athens: Day-trip to Delphi

• 11am - Delphi Ruins: We will follow in the footsteps of the many kings a visit to the oracle in search of advice...
• 8pm - Return to Athens

Thursday, April 7 - From Athens to Naples

• 10:30am - Depart Athens
• 11:30am - Arrive Rome, catch chartered bus to Tivoli
• 1pm - Hadrian's Villa: The most opulent villa of its era, though sadly raided over the years.
• 6pm - Arrive Villa Vergiliana

Friday, April 8 - Naples: Pompeii, Oplontis, Vesuvius

• 9am - Pompeii: A city buried alive by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 and one of our best glimpses into life in Ancient Rome 
• 12:30pm - Oplontis: Emperor Nero's wife's villa, this boasts some of the best preserved frescoes from the era
• 2:30pm - Mt. Vesuvius: We will climb to the top of the mountain that punished Romans but rewarded historians...

Saturday, April 9 - Naples: Herculaneum, NAM, Sibyll's Cave

• 9am - Herculaneum: Though less famous than Pompeii, this is still a rich site, offering us another perspective on life in Ancient Rome - in this case, the perspective of an affluent town.
• 11:30am - National Archaeological Museum: Houses the richest finds from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other ancient sites in the region
• 1pm - Free afternoon in Naples

Sunday, April 10 - Naples: Capri

• Full day in Capri, including visits to Villa Tiberio and Arco Naturale

Monday, April 11 - Rome: Hadrian's Villa, Vatican

• 8:30am - Depart Villa Vergiliana 
• 9am -  Cumae Acropolis: Ruins of a Greek colony in Italy, upon which our villa was later built
• 11am - Sibyll's Cave: The entrance to Hades?  Perhaps...
• 3:30pm - Arrive Vatican Apartment
• 4:30pm - St. Peter's Basilica: A short, ten-minute stroll from our apartment takes us to the pope

Tuesday, April 12 - Rome: Colosseum, Forum, Palatine

• 8am - Shop for lunch in Campo dei Fiori
• 9am - Palatine Hill: Romulus founded Rome here, Augustus ruled from here, and many other emperors followed
• 10am - Roman Forum: The heart of the Roman government for many years
• Picnic lunch in Circus Maximus
• 1:30pm - Capitoline Museum: The collection is massive. We will focus on the frescoes and stuccoes that tell the story of Rome and the tombstones that reveal a great deal about Roman religious beliefs
• 3pm - Free time in Field of Mars

Wednesday, April 13 - Rome: Capitoline, Trajan, Borghese

• 8am - Colosseum: We who are about to die salute you!
• 10am - Trajan's Column: Set in the Imperial Forum, this is one of the most impressive monuments from the ancient world
• Noon - Capuchin Crypt: Bones, Bones, Bones
• Picnic in Borghese Park
• 5pm - Borghese Gallery

Thursday, April 14 - Rome: Morning Options, Afternoon in Field of Mars

• Morning - Students will choose morning activity.  Options include the Vatican Museums, Villa Tiberio in Sperlonga, Etruscan tombs in Cerveteri, the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, or Ostia Antica
• Afternoon - Walking tour of remaining Roman highlights in Field of Mars, including Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Capuchin Crypt, and Trevi Fountain after dark

Friday, April 15 - Arrivederci Roma, Hello Phoenix

• 11:30am - Depart Rome
• 8:40pm - Arrive Phoenix

9th Grade Trip - Blog Index

Want to relive the 9th grade trip to Italy and Greece?  To make it easy, I've compiled links to all of the blog posts here:

Day 1: Arrival, Sperlonga, Capua
Day 2: Pompeii and NAM
Day 3: Herculaneum, Oplontis, and Cuma
Day 4: Capri
Day 5: Underworld, Rome
Day 6: Ancient Rome
Day 7: Epigraphs and Sarcophagi
Day 8: Villas and Vias
Day 9: Colosseum, Bones, and Michelangelo
Day 10: Flying to Greece, Delphi
Day 11: Epidaurus, Mycenae, Athens
Day 12: Acropo... what?

Greece and Our Trip - Updated 3/25

In case you have not been monitoring Athens, no worries - checking for news from Greece has been a part of my daily schedule for the last two months. The economic downturn has hit Greece harder than most other Western countries. Over the last month in particular, the EU's response to Greece has been a subject of high drama. The EU has made it clear that any assistance to Greece will be dependent upon the country's ability to impose harsh austerity measures. Those include significant cuts in pay to civil servants, the loss of jobs for others, and a
significant reduction in social services. Many Greeks have not responded to these moves with docility and restraint. Instead, there have been riots in Athens and, to a much lesser degree, Thessaloniki. In limited cases, these have resulted in violence.

From a distance, this news can be unnerving to follow, especially when keeping the safety of your children in mind. And, of course, safety is the over-riding concern for us in planning this trip. Know that we will not stick to our current itinerary if we feel it exposed your child to any danger.

After discussing the issue with Mr. LaBonte for the moment, we have decided to take a wait-and-see approach. With historically rare exceptions, these sorts of riots burn hot but expire quickly and It would be unusual for them to still be percolating a month from now. Additionally, it is important to note where the riots are taking place. We will stay in Monastiraki neighborhood in Athens, near the Acropolis. The riots, however, almost exclusively occur around government buildings and, to a lesser extent, universities.

The primary reason for a wait-and-see approach is that our plans are flexible. In other words, should circumstances demand it, we could modify our itinerary relatively late in the game to ensure the safety of your kids. We will continue to monitor developments in Athens on a daily basis as we move through March and early April.

Given that all of my experience leading student trips - and with travel in general - has accrued over the last decade, that experience has inevitably included learning how to deal with the potential hazards of traveling in uncertain times. This said you have my assurance that we will not expose your child to any undue risk and that you will have the opportunity to fully review and comment on the planned itinerary prior to our flight.

I inquired with our hostel in Athens about the current conditions and received the following response:

"The area around the hostel is very safe and is not near any of the protests which you may have seen on the news. I personally have not seen or heard anything here at the hostel and I too have seen the news reports and I am quite surprised when I watch it that it actually happened here because I never see or hear anything.

"So I can assure you that you will be very safe at the hostel and the sites surrounding the hostel, the protests you have viewed are situated in one small area not near any sites and we will mark this area on a map for you in the case of another protest so you can avoid this area."

While the hostel clearly is operating from a position of self-interest, these comments have been reinforced to me by others in Athens.

Hopefully this note eases any concerns that you may have and I encourage
you to contact me if you have any questions about our plans.

Freshman Trip Money and Valuables

Establishing a recommended budget for food and incidentals in Europe is actually one of the more complicated components of the trip. There is a great deal of variation between people. Some eat a lot, some very little. Some are happy with simple food, spot bargains, and enjoy cooking; others grab the first thing that looks good, oblivious of the price, and place importance on dining in quality restaurants. As a result, the total expenses for two students may end up being very different. To be safe, we are setting a budget on the upper end of the spectrum. But, we will also outline the process by which we arrived at the figure here, so that you can modify the numbers as you see fit.

First, here is an overview of meals already included in the trip cost:

Greece: April 3-6 - Breakfast included
Naples: April 7-10 - All meals included (including breakfast on the 11th)
Rome: April 11-14 - Breakfast included

Or, to put it another way, students will need money to buy the following things in the following places:

Greece: 3 lunches, 4 dinners, snacks (4 days)
Naples: Snacks (4 days)
Rome: 4 lunches, 4 dinners, snacks (4 days)

So, all told, students are responsible for 7 lunches, 8 dinners, and 12 days of snacks, excluding flight days. We are budgeting 7.50 euros/day for snacks. That is generous, of course. For some perspective, a bottle of Coke will run anywhere from 1 to 3 or 4 euros (supermarket vs. at the Colosseum). A gelato will run from 2 to 5 euros (though it's pretty easy to get a satisfying 2-3 euro gelato). A cappuccino costs 1-1.5 euros at the bar, more for a patio seat.

We are budgeting 10 euros/lunch. A burger/fries/coke generally falls in the 7-8 euro range. Pizzas start around 5-6 euros for a Margarita and increase in price as the toppings are added.

Finally, we are budgeting 15 euros/dinner. This meal has, perhaps, the greatest potential range. If a group decides to hit the supermarket and then cook dinner, a really satisfying meal can end up costing 3 euros. Some restaurants have a set menu (antipasto, pasta, contorno, beverage) in the 10-12 euro range. Others require you to order by the dish and this can become expensive quickly. A 15 euro average allows for some nicer meals mixed in with some cheaper ones.

Add it all up and you have a ballpark budget of around 300 euros for food. Are there any additional costs? Not necessarily. To call home, if your student doesn't have an international cell phone (which is certainly not required), the purchase of a phone card would be necessary (5-10 euros). We will have internet access in our accommodations, but if a student wanted more time online, a visit to an internet cafe would probably cost around 5 euros. And then, of course, there are souvenirs. We leave that to your discretion.

With the amount settled, the next issue to discuss is accessing it. We recommend two possible options. One approach is to provide your student with a debit card. Most major banks issue cards that work internationally (look for the Plus or Cirrus logo on the back). Make sure that your pin is only four digits. Finally, a week before departure, call the bank to inform them that the card will be used abroad; otherwise, their fraud prevention department will likely freeze the account. In addition to the card, it is advisable to provide your student with some cash, in case s/he has some problems with it early in the trip. $100 US could be easily exchanged at the airport en route to Italy, allowing for a smooth transition.

The other option is simply to bring all of the cash you will need for the trip. It would be quite unfortunate, of course, to lose 300 euros. However, given that the banks often zap each ATM withdrawal with a 2-5 euro service charge, it doesn't make sense to withdraw small amounts. So, regardless, you would probably be carrying 100-150 euros around at some point. Given the small gap between those figures, is the ATM card worth the hassle if your student doesn't have one already? Seems unlikely, but it's your call, of course. In either case, the student should have a money belt to allow for the secure stowage of that cash.

Finally, a word on valuables. We are not going to restrict students from bringing personal electronics, like iPods and handheld videogames. However, I strongly discourage it. Every trip I lead, one or two students leave their iPods behind as unintentional gifts to the locals; in Italy, prolific pickpockets add an extra layer of risk, beyond normal human forgetfulness. Beyond that, though, consider the extent to which those electronics will even be necessary. The students will always be around their friends, always have new things to talk about, and will have little time to just sit around and use the electronics. They'll have personal entertainment stations on the planes and bus rides are great opportunities for conversations. It's too easy to drop off into your own little world when you have those distractions available.

Freshman Trip Assignment: Tour Guides

Note: What follows is the assignment sheet from 2010.  Specifics may change for 2011, but it is left here as a preview of what is to come:

Ancient sites can be tremendously powerful. They connect us to our human heritage, linking us to those who preceded us hundreds or thousands of years ago and whose influence lives on today. In those ruins, we can see the successful manifestation of the human desire to create something bigger than ourselves, something that can defy our own mortality, something permanent. By visiting and preserving those sites, we reinforce that timeless human mission.

However meaningful ancient sites may be on an existential level, though, they can lack meaning on a practical one. They are skeletons, providing the barest of outlines of what once existed, and only the informed and the creative can begin to restore meat to those bones.

Your job as tour guides is to make one ancient site reveal its secrets to us. Be story tellers - describe what life was like in this place during its height. Who visited this place? What did they do here? Were there any famous events that occurred here? Be informative - identify important buildings and structures for us. Provide critical background details to us. Be selective - decide what we need to know to appreciate what we see without getting bogged down in unnecessary details. Think about how hard it can be to absorb new names, dates, and facts, and focus on only the critical ones.

You will work in pairs or trios. The expectation is that all group members will participate equally in all stages of the assignment. In other words, one person can't do all of the prep while the other does all of the speaking at the historical site. That said, you should consider the strengths of each person and take advantage of those in your work.

Tour Guide Project, Part I - Research

The first part of the project requires you to learn about your assigned site in great detail. As a starting point, I will provide you with some background materials, pulled primarily from the Blue Guide to your specific site, the Archaeological Guide to Rome, and the Companion Guide to Rome. In some cases, these materials are quite extensive; in others, they're a little more sparse. Regardless, let me stress that they are intended as a starting point and the expectation is that you will pull material from a number of sources. In addition to print materials, look for DVDs or videos on the subject (I've acquired a handful of these that are available to you); it will help you a great deal to have a visual sense of the place. Specific expectations for your Research portion of the project are:

• Organize notes by source (in other words, list all of the useful details you have found from the Blue Guide, followed by notes from the next source, then the next one, etc.)
• Use a minimum of five sources - each of which provides a number of useful facts
• Notes in your own words or brief direct quotes
• Cover all important parts of your site as well as historical background
• Include maps/pictures as needed
• Highlight / mark the details that strike you as necessary for your presentation
• Turn in one document (combine all group members' work)

Tour Guide Project, Part II - Handout

In support of your presentation, you are required to prepare a handout (minimum one page) for the group. While you may tailor this to fit your presentation plans, all handouts are required to cover three areas:

• Historical Overview: A one-paragraph summary of the site's origins and peak
• Description of Key Buildings/Features: What are the 4-6 things at the historical site that all visitors must see and understand to fully appreciate the site? List and briefly describe them here
• Map: Include a map of the site and, if possible, the planned route we will follow through it

The handout should be easy to read, carefully edited, and properly formatted. It can be a single sheet of paper, a tri-fold brochure, or whatever other style that makes sense for your site. Most importantly, it needs to mirror your presentation, providing the group with a handy overview of what you've planned for us and an even more useful reminder of it afterward. As such, you will find that the design of this handout requires you to begin planning your presentation. The handout should serve, essentially, as an outline of your tour guide plans.

Tour Guide Project, Part III - Presentation

Over the month of March, your presentation plans should gradually come into focus. In the final week before departure, you will be required to submit detailed plans. These plans should include the following:

• Itinerary for the visit (what will we see, in what order)
• Speeches for each major site and historical overview
• Plans for self-guided parts of the visit
• All necessary supporting materials

In addition to submitting print copies of all of these plans, you will be required to make a "practice run" of your presentation for at least two of the trip leaders. Obviously, we can't actually visit the site in advance of our trip, but we will simulate conditions to the greatest extent possible.

As you begin planning, consider just what kind of tour you want to run. Does it make the most sense to keep the whole group of 21 people together, guiding it from one important spot to the next, with one or both of you speaking in each place? Does it make more sense to split into small groups? Could you and your partner prepare interpretive skits that recreate what would have happened at your site? Are there activities you could create that would help the audience to better connect with the site (for example, a "Scavenger Hunt" that requires them to find different buildings or images)? Start your planning from these question: What kind of tour do you wish you could be on? What do you think is the best way to connect with a historical site?

Also consider what your site allows for. A place like the Colosseum is more restricted - you don't have a ton of space to work with, the tourists will be packed in there, and there will be a lot of background noise. A place like Hadrian's Villa is more open, with acres and acres of space to maneuver. It's also important to be prepared for sub-optimal conditions. For example, what will you do if it rains? We're not canceling the tour; you have to be ready.

Have fun with this. Your work as a tour guide will shape the experiences that your peers have at these sites, the most important ones we visit on our trip. A great tour leader can produce life-long memories.

Freshman Trip Assignments

The freshman study trip to Italy and Greece is exactly that - a study trip, not a vacation. As such, there are specific assignments to be completed by students, either prior to departure or while on the road. These will be assessed and those grades will be applied to the students' second semester Humanities grade. The assignments are outlined below:

1) Student Tour Guides: Working in pairs, students will lead us through eight major ancient sites - Pompeii, Herculaneum, Capri, the Colosseum, the Forum, Hadrian's Villa, Mycenae, and the Acropolis. While the style of guidance can take many forms, all student tour guides will be expected to: a) tell the story of the site, b) identify and explain the significance of major structures/artifacts at the site, and c) provide the group with a handout outlining key points. Most importantly, the students' job is to make the site speak - to make it interesting. Ruins can feel empty and boring; the guide must make it feel real and relevant. The full assignment sheet is posted here.

2) Poem to the Dead: Following the style of the Greek elegy, students will prepare a short poem in memory of the dead to be delivered when we arrive at the River Styx in the Sibyll's Cave. The poem could be devoted to a specific person from the student's life, a famous Greek or Roman hero, or to the dead in general.

3) Honoring the Gods: The Roman Pantheon was originally devoted to the old Roman Gods and, as is clear from Greek epic poetry, honoring the gods was a mandatory act. We will celebrate our arrival in Rome by paying the gods proper respect at the Pantheon. In support of this, students will prepare a poem in honor of a specific Roman God of their choice, following models supplied from Greek epic poems.

4) The Oracle's Riddle: While many sought insight from the Oracle at Delphi, often its message was more of a mystery than an answer. Truth might have been there for the taking, but it was wrapped in a riddle - a riddle often only decoded when the person affected was past the point of no return. We will mark our visit to the oracle by sharing riddles. Each student will be expected to bring one riddle of their own choice (bonus points if the riddle is of their own creation).

5) Monologue: The great theater of Epidaurus is one of the most remarkable ancient sites still in existence. The acoustics are so spectacular that an actor's lines could be heard clearly from any part of the theater. We will test it out. Students will be required to select a monologue from any Greek drama of their choice (minimum 10 lines) and deliver it here. With passion.

6) Journal: Students will be expected to journal daily. Sometimes specific topics will be assigned; on other occasions, they will be free to reflect on whatever they choose.

7) Blog: To keep families in the loop, we will maintain a trip blog. All students will be expected to update it once.

Freshman Trip Itinerary

4/10 - Depart PHX

Naples: 4/11 - 4/14 - Staying at Villa Vergiliana

4/11 - Luxury and Slavery

• Arrive at Rome Fiumicino
• Picked up by bus from Villa Vergiliana
• Sperlonga: See the Grotto di Tiberius, ruins of an ancient villa situated in front of a major grotto along the coast. It's an excellent example of the type of luxurious, rural residences Rome's elites built for themselves.
  
• Capua: Spartacus's slave rebellion occurred here. Today there is a Gladiatorial Museum, the best of its kind.
  

4/12 - Frozen in Time

• Pompeii: a city buried alive by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 and one of our best glimpses into life in Ancient Rome (Student Tour Guides)
  
• National Archaeological Museum: Houses the richest finds from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other ancient sites in the region
• Free time in Naples
  

4/13 - Frozen in Time, Pt. II

• Mt Vesuvius: We will climb to the top of the mountain that punished Romans but rewarded historians...
• Herculaneum: Though less famous than Pompeii, this is still a rich site, offering us another perspective on life in Ancient Rome - in this case, the perspective of an affluent town (Student Tour Guides)
  
• Oplontis: Emperor Nero's wife's villa, this boasts some of the best preserved frescoes from the era
  

4/14 - Island Life in the Ancient World

• Sail to Capri: Visit Greek and Roman remains and enjoy the views (Student Tour Guides)
  

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Rome: 4/15 - 4/19 - Staying at Flatinrome Termini

4/15 - Morning in Hell, Evening in Rome

• Visit the Greek Acropolis of Cumae before leaving Naples
• Lake Avernus and the Sibyll's Cave: We will journey deep into the earth, torches in hand, en route to the River Styx
• Bus to Rome
• Walking tour of Rome (including Pantheon, Trevi Fountain)
  

4/16 - Knowing Rome through its Ruins

• Colosseum: Gladiators! (Student Tour Guides)
  
• Forum: Politics! (Student Tour Guides)
  
• Trajan's Column: Cylinders!
  
• Palatine Hill: The heart of early Rome
  

4/17 - Knowing Rome through its Artifacts

• Capitoline Museum: The collection is massive. We will focus on the frescoes and stuccoes that tell the story of Rome and the tombstones that reveal a great deal about Roman religious beliefs
  
• Museo Nazionale / Diocletian Baths: Again, the collection is huge, but we will focus on one key part - the extensive assortment of tablets that provide historians with a wealth of information about Roman culture
  
• Optional Visit to Vatican Museum (Not included in trip cost)
  

4/18 - Knowing Rome through its Luxury

• Day trip to Tivoli
  
• Hadrian's Villa: The most opulent villa of its era, though sadly raided over the years (Student Tour Guides)
  
• Villa d'Este: A Renaissance re-imagining of the classical villa
  
• Optional Visit to Borghese Gallery (Not included in trip cost)
  

4/19 - The Rise of Christian Rome

• San Sebastiano Catacombs: One of the many surviving catacombs of the early Christian era, when the believers were persecuted by the Roman government
  
• St. Peter's Basilica: Not ancient, but can't be missed
  
• St. Peter's Necropolis: Deep below the basilica, this *does* have ancient origins
  
• Capuchin Crypt: Bones, bones, and more bones
  

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Delphi: 4/20 - Staying at Pan Hotel

4/20 - Visiting the Oracle

• Fly to Athens
• Bus from airport to Delphi
  
• Visit Delphi archaeological site

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Athens: 4/21 - 4/22 - Staying at AthenStyle Hostel

4/21 - Ancient Greece in a Nutshell

• Mycenae: Ruins from the land of Agamemnon and Menelaus (Student Tour Guides)
  
• Epidauros: One of the best preserved Greek theaters
  
• Athens: Arrive late afternoon for a stroll around town
  

4/22 - The Glory of Athens

• The Acropolis: You might have heard of it (Student Tour Guides)
  
• National Archaeological Museum: One of the greatest collections in the world

4/23 - Fly Home

Freshman Trip Transportation Plan

What follows is the complete overview of all transportation we have booked/chartered or will ultimately use while in Italy and Greece:

FLIGHT: Phoenix to Athens (ATH), via Chicago O'Hare (ORD) and London-Heathrow (LHR)

• AA782 to ORD, AA86 to LHR, BA632 to ATH
• Depart Phoenix 10:20am on 4/2
• Arrive Athens 5:30pm on 4/3

BUS: Hop-In Sightseeing will handle all of the transportation in Greece, picking us up from the Athens airport, taking us to Delphi, Mycenae, and Epidaurus, and then returning us to Athens.

FLIGHT: From Athens to Rome on EasyJet

BUS: Sibilla Bus Company will provide our transportation from Rome's Fiumicino airport to the Villa, around the Naples area, and from Naples to our apartment in Rome afterward.

BOAT: Hydrofoil to/from Capri

METRO: In Rome, we will travel primarily on the metro with occasional bus use

FLIGHT: Rome to Phoenix, via Chicago O'Hare (ORD)

• AA111 to ORD, AA1733 to Phoenix
• Depart Rome at 11:30am on 4/15
• Arrive Phoenix at 8:40pm on 4/15
  

Freshman Trip Packing List

The guiding principle is to pack light. We request that students limit themselves to one backpack or dufflebag that fits airline carry-on requirements (55 x 40 x 20cm), along with a smaller daypack. This is particularly important on our Athens->Naples flight, where checked baggage charges are applied - AND, to make matters trickier, you are not allowed a personal item on that flight, so your daypack has to fit in your larger suitcase/backpack.

Obviously, that limits what they can pack! Laundry services will be available, so students don't need to bring enough clothing to survive the trip. But, they should make careful choices about what to bring, paying particular attention to three factors. First, the weather - April can bring pleasant, mild days, but it can also bring cold and rain. In Rome, average April temperatures range from a high of 67 to a low of 45, with an average of 2.7" of rain. Athens and Naples have similar ranges, though we have better odds of sunshine in the former. The main point here - students should have something warm and something to keep them dry. Second, cultural sensitivity - long pants are a better idea in Italy and Greece than shorts. They're essential if you plan on entering St. Peter's or any other church/cathedral. Italians, by and large, dress well; if you aim for the scruffy look, you will clearly be out of place. Finally, be prepared for a lot of walking. Bring comfortable shoes.

Use the following as a rough set of guidelines. Remember - they do have stores in Italy and Greece. You can buy something if the need arises.

CLOTHES
-Five shirts (short/long sleeve), socks, underwear
-One warm pull-over (add a second, thin layer if you get cold easily)
-Two pairs of pants
-One pair shorts / skirt
-Hat
-Optional: Scarf, gloves, other assorted sources of warmth

GEAR/ACCESSORIES/ETC
-Good walking shoes
-Sandals or flipflops
-Umbrella (collapsible, easily carried)
-Mini flashlight / headlamp
-Digital camera (optional)
-Sunglasses
-Journal/Pen (we will supply a small journal)
-Toiletries (Travel size, in a plastic bag)
-A few energy bars
-Optional: Cell phone, European plug converter (if needed)
-Watch (or some other time-keeping device)

MOST IMPORTANT
-Money belt
-Passport
-Debit card or money
-Trip binder (we will supply)
-Your trip guide plans

Finally, why not read something kind of relevant? Here are a few options that come to mind:

• I, Claudius by Robert Graves - Considered the best work of historical fiction based in ancient Rome, Graves writes this as the autobiography of Emperor Claudius. It begins with Augustus and moves through the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Meticulously researched, it offers a great look into the early Roman Empire.
• Sprezzatura: 50 Ways Italian Genius Shaped the World by d'Epiro and Pinkowish - 50 short chapters on important people and developments in Italian history. It starts in the ancient era, with pieces on the Roman calendar, Roman law, Julius Caesar, and more. But, it tracks Italian contributions from there all the way to the near-present, with chapters on St. Francis, Michelangelo, Garibaldi, and Ferrari. With sections ranging from 5-10 pages, it's an easy travel book, as you can read in short spurts without having to worry about losing the narrative flow.
• Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: The Building of St. Peter's by R.A. Scotti - A fascinating story of the building of the Vatican's basilica, in which many of the great figures of the Italian renaissance are featured. If you're interested in architecture, the renaissance, or the Church, this is a great, highly readable option.
• Excellent Cadavers by Alexander Stille - Easily the best book I've read on the Italian mafia. As much investigative reporting as it is historical non-fiction, this book is vividly written and the high drama Stille builds might actually get your heart beating.
  
• If you want to read something by an Italian writer, my favorite is Italo Calvino. Some of his works can be difficult to unpack, but The Non-Existent Knight and the Cloven Viscount are fun fantasy stories. Invisible Cities is brilliant, and certain to be unlike anything you've read.