A Year in Viterbo: You know it's the holidays in Viterbo when...

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

You know it's the holidays in Viterbo when...

Max has to learn Christmas carols in English class
We have to cobble together a menorah out of shot glasses and dinner candles
We bring our Christmas tree home in a grocery trolley
Instead of finding little creche items at the Christmas market, we found his and hers red underwear
Red bicycle with logs underneath (as if in the chimney??) as an outside-the-store decoration
A house made of torrone instead of gingerbread
Santa and his reindeer ready to ride
Christmas lights EVERYWHERE
Flavored sugar at the local caffe -- love my cappuccino with hazelnut sugar!

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About this blog

In August 2013, Whitney, Max and Rick moved to Viterbo, Italy for the school year. Whitney, who works for School Year Abroad (SYA), is working at SYA's school in Viterbo. Rick brought his work with him, plugging in via WIFI just off the terrace above Piazza Verdi. Max, taking the biggest cultural leap of the family, started first grade at the local, Italian-speaking public school. La Scuola Elementare di Silvio Canevari.

Viterbo is a small, wonderful city, well preserved from medieval times. An intact wall, built in the 13th century, surrounds the city. Excavation beneath the passages of the Papal Palace reveals artifacts of the Etruscan period dating back to about 500 BC. Narrow roads of successively larger, older cobblestones twist up and down from the well trodden main roads such as the Corso and Via Marconi, where we live.

Home of around 60,000 people, Viterbo draws widely as the provincial capital and feels more populous. It sustains, for example, more than 100 restaurants, a university, and at least a half dozen book stores.