Festa della Repubblica

Today was the Festa della Repubblica for the country of Italy.  This is essentially the same as our celebration of the Fourth of July; however, this was the 150th celebration of Italy's independence.  The streets were relatively empty and calm when I went to studio at 8:00 am.  By the time we had started class at 9:30, the streets had come alive and the air was filled with helicopters and airplanes.  It was very exciting because the highlight of the day is when 9 jet fighters buzz the city and spray red, white, and red smoke in the shape of the Italian flag.  I was unable to photograph the planes, but we did watch them fly over.  You can see some of the smoke in the image below.

We unexpectedly were in attendance for part of the parade.  The class was scheduled to do an analysis of the Piazza Campidiglio.  The piazza was closed during the parade, so that idea was scrubbed.  Instead, we were dismissed early for lunch so we could take part in some of the celebration.

Being a group of Iowans, it seems that rain always follows us wherever we go.  In the afternoon, the Piazza Campidoglio was finally opened and we went to complete our analysis.  We were there for about half an hour when it started to rain fairly heavily.  My professor said that it hadn't rained the entire summer last year and here it is, the second day of this program and it rained.  Well, that about wrapped up this day in Rome.  A little less activity packed than planned, but we still got to see two things that don't normally occur in Rome.  Ciao!