Finally.... My 3-Week April Sketch Trip in ITALY

After arriving back in Chicago, a month and a half after-the-fact, I finally remembered to put up some pictures from my Italy trip on here.  It was a three week break in between our final exams and our final design presentations, during which my friends and I traveled all throughout Italy.  Ten of those days were also spent on a mandatory sketching trip with a teacher, and I was lucky enough to go to the Amalfi Coast with Lenore Baigelman.  It was the most relaxing sketch trip of the entire year, what with the warm weather, the beaches, and the complete overdose of Italian cuisine... here are some of the beautiful sights I got to see on my Italian adventure!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Duomo in Florence from Piazza Michelangelo

The Colosseum in Rome

The Spanish Steps in Rome

And now for our Amalfi Coast sketch trip... first stop: Sorrento! 

The Roman city of Pompeii, buried under the ashes of Mt. Vesuvius

Crazy huge lemons.  Lemons and limoncello were everywhere! 

The Atlantis-like island of Capri

The small but beautiful Amalfi

High up on a hill, the ultra-luxurious town of Ravello

A ritzy resort town called Positano

The ancient Greek city at Paestum

And after the sketch trip ended... the charming canals of Venice

Last day in Italy: Piazza San Marco in Venice

We also visited Naples, where we ate the world's BEST pizza at three different restaurants, one of which was the famous one from "Eat Pray Love."  (Unfortunately, Naples' big garbage disposal problem made it rather unworthy of photo ops).  From Florence, my friend and I also made a side trip to the Chianti region, where we compared vineyards, went in a castle with pet peacocks, and tried 3 different wines.  And of course, we spent a LOT of time sketching every single day -- even outside of the Amalfi sketch trip -- to document all of the beautiful Italian architecture and ruins surrounding us.  It was good to go back to France, where the food is more diverse and where I can understand the language... but it was an eventful and memorable trip to Italia.