A two week journey through 2000 years of Italian garden history began on June 5th, when 20 students and professors boarded a plane at Dulles to travel to Rome. Although none in the group spoke Italian, all were soon able to order dinner, locate the nearest post office and find the bathroom.

The itinerary included fifteen gardens, from the aquatic Villa d'Este, to the bizarre Sacro Bosco, to the sublime Villa Balbianello. The gardens, however, were only part of the story.

 Organized and led by Robert McDuffie, the group travelled over a thousand miles from as far south as the Isle of Capri to Lake Como in the north. Travel was by trains, planes, buses and boats with stops in Sorrento, Pompeii, Tivoli, Rome, Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, Venice and finally, Virginia Tech's villa in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland. Along the way there were tours of important cities, churches, canals, and outstanding museums, accompanied by lots of gelato.

The group was an eclectic one, with participants ranging in age from 18 to 78. They included two professors from Tech who went along as students, a retired botany professor from Longwood College, two hort department staff members, a hort alum, a high school teacher from Winchester and thirteen undergraduates. Italy was extraordinarily beautiful and the students received a full dose of la dolce vita (the sweet life), which made leaving the hardest part. To see photos from the trip, log onto: http://www.bsi.vt.edu/mcduff/Italy2000/ItalyStudent.html