In July 2022, Miss Millard, Mrs Franklin, Mr Wickham, Mr Olsen and Mr Thomas took a group of our Fitzalan pupils on an exciting trip into Italy. 

We spent our first day in Venice! We took a private boat through to St Mark's Square, taking in the beautiful views of one of the most historic locations within Europe. Pupils were inspired by the impressive architecture, the detailed patterns covering the gondolas and had time to explore the cobbled streets, tempted by smells of pizza and fresh pasta. After an hour or so of exploring, we ventured on to our Venetian Mask Making workshop. We heard about the history of traditional Venetian masks, the way in which they were made and then got to make our own! All pupils (and staff!) thoroughly enjoyed this - the masks made were incredible - the creativity displayed by our pupils and their attention to detail made all staff members incredibly proud. 

Our second full day was then spent in the stunning Lake Garda. We had a boat tour across the Lake. It looked picture-perfect, as though we were travelling through a postcard. All pupils were so impressed by the views, many were speechless. We had lunch in Malcesine, which was mostly filling up on gelato and taking in the mountains, lake and gorgeous weather. Later that evening we enjoyed a pizza making workshop in our hotel. All creations were consumed - some looked much more professional than others! Either way - they tasted lovely! 

Our final day was spent in the historic and famed Verona! We had a bespoke, interactive guided tour. This discussed the tragedy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and the historical families this play was based upon. We took a guided tour of the Colusseum and Juliet's house and had time to take in the splendour of the city. Pupils then had time to go shopping and get some traditional Italian food, before taking the coach back to the hotel to pack. 

Also a couple of key moments stood out to us - being serenaded by Rohan on piano - fantastic and impressed the other hotel guests! Our fantastic pupil Claudio was our translator for the trip and did an outstanding job. We couldn’t thank him enough! Seeing the friendships develop and supporting one another away from home was also wonderful - particularly with our pupils Oliver and Sam. 

An excellent adventure for our pupils and one that we look forward to offering again in the future!