36 Classics students followed in the footsteps of the Caesars when they visited Italy this year. Although there was no marching involved, Miss Welsby’s pedometer had clocked up over 120,000 steps by the time she reached Rome airport for the return flight!

The group embarked on a walking tour of some of the most famous sites of Rome – the Trevi Fountain, the Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps, the Theatre of Marcellus and the Pantheon – with plenty of stops for photo opportunities and ice cream (and all of this before they reached the hotel!).

One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the Vatican City where students took in the Musei Vaticani, the Sistine Chapel and finally, the splendid St Peter’s Basilica and St Peter’s Square. Having spent a morning in Renaissance and Baroque Rome, the afternoon was spent in Classical Rome, with visits to the Colosseum, the Arch of Titus, Trajan’s Column and a stroll along the Sacred Way into the Forum Romanum.

The journey to Sorrento was broken by a visit to the site of Pompeii, where students were delighted to view the house of Lucius Caecilius Iucundus and practise one of their favourite Latin phrases from Year 7 “canis est in via”. A trip to a mozzarella farm enabled the group to see how the cheese is made, buy the end product and enjoy a wonderful meal of the farm’s produce.

A more relaxing day was spent visiting the island of Capri. Here girls enjoyed a boat trip around the island, a funicular ride to Capri town, some designer window shopping and had their first taste of real Italian pizza.

The penultimate day included a guided tour of Herculaneum, destroyed by Vesuvius in AD 79, and a visit to Solfatara, the crater of an ‘extinct’ volcano. The last night was spent in the lovely coastal town of Santa Marinella.

As a follow up to the trip, 75 girls and their parents enjoyed an evening at MHSG with an Italian theme. Parents were invited to share the experiences, sights, sounds and tastes of Italy as the girls reminisced and shared embarrassing photographs.