28 May Poppi and Me
Peaceful Poppi by Taylor Nietsch via Danielle’s account
It is official we have arrived in Poppi! Poppi from last time I journeyed to Italy is one of my favorite cities. As you can see in picture two is so peaceful and quite with hardly any tourists around. Most tourists have never heard of Poppi and therefore never take the time to stop by. However, those who do will be greeted with a little slice of heaven from freiendly cats to a castle that dates all the way back to Dante’s time when he stayed here during exile. One of my favorite moments as silly as it sounds was when I ran into the back cat pictured above that cortney snapped the most perfect picture of. At this late point in th trip I am really missing my baby Luca despite how much fun I am having. Running into the friendly black cat outside the parish we toured was just the cat fix I needed. However, more than that, it was so nice sitting with friends on a wall on a hill in Poppi just taking in the view and slowing down. A lot of our trip has been go go go since Rome and Florence are pretty busy cities. Being in the country side surrounded by mountains I really felt at peace and like I was in Italy. Another favorite activity of mine was visiting the castle that Dante stayed in.
shown in picture 3. One characteristic of this castle is the famous library that houses some of the oldest volumes of works and is one of the most precious collections in the world. Here we got to see print first editions and hand written copies of Dante’s Divine Comedy. As an English major this just blew my mind that I was standing so close to something with so much history and value. This whole trip I have been finding places to sit down and just take it my surroundings and it truly blows my mind how blessed I am. I am in one of the oldest medieval castles in the world looking at Dante manuscript. Life just seems surreal and no amount of pictures can capture the emotions I felt when I sat back and let the reality of my surroundings hit me. Poppi truly has a place in my heart and anyone who can fit in into their Italy travel itinerary should definitely take the time to stop in and explore this hidden gem.
