Escorted by Missouri Military Academy staffers Rhonda Blaue, MAJ Edsel Baker and Dr. James Bonanno, seventeen students visited Italy in mid-March.

The program, which was coordinated by Worldstrides International Discovery Programs, began March 13 with an overnight flight to Italy.

In Venice, cadets enjoyed a gondola ride and visited St. Mark’s Square, the Grand Canal, the Doge’s Palace and the Bridge of Sighs.

On day four of their journey, en route to Florence, cadets viewed the early Christian and Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna.

In Florence, students visited the Duomo, the Baptistery doors, the Church of Santa Croce and the Ponte Vecchio. At the Accademia museum, students viewed Michelangelo’s David and other works dating back to the 16th century from artists such as da Vinci, Michelangelo and Botticelli. That evening, cadets created their own pasta and cooked spaghetti with creme caramel.

Cadets next traveled through Tuscany and explored Assissi, visiting the beautiful Basilica of St. Francis. They then continued into Rome, stopping at the Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine and Trajan’s Column.

Students next visited Pompeii, Roman city frozen in time by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D., before flying back to the United States.