The Classics Department has sponsored trips regularly (usually every other year) to Italy since 1990. These trips, open to JBS students enrolled in Latin or Greek in grades 9-12, traditionally run over the course of the school's spring break, so those who participate generally do not miss any school. JBS faculty act not only as chaperones for the students but as guides: we plan and lead the trip ourselves, rather than simply accompany a "canned" tour offered by a company that has no clue about who we are. Our trips therefore cater exclusively to JBS students and the curriculum they study, so when we visit the forum Romanum, for instance, our students realize that they're walking along the same path that Horace--whose biography they have studied from the beginning--also trod two millennia ago.

Historically these trips split the time abroad pretty evenly between the greater Naples area and Rome. We enjoy the use of the wonderful Villa Vergiliana, a haven in Cumae resting upon an actual amphitheatre; it is exclusively for the use of student groups like ours, learned colloquia, and adult study tours. From this base we travel by hired bus to Campanian sites like Pozzuoli, Herculaneum, and Pompeii--we even make an assault on Mt. Vesuvius itself. We also range as far afield as Paestum (Greek Poseidonia) to visit the excellently preserved Greek temples there and the wonderful site museum.

In Rome we stay at the Hotel Navona, steps away from its eponymous piazza. From here we can walk at will all over the historic center, visiting sites as diverse as the forum Romanum, San Clemente (all three "layers"), the scavi under St. Peter's Basilica and the Basilica itself, the circus maximus, the Pantheon, and the Spanish Steps, stopping as frequently as possible to refresh ourselves with gelati.

Because of the volatile exchange rate and unpredictable nature of airfare, the cost for the trip varies; in any event, however, students with need may apply to the Headmaster for monies from the Cissel Fund to defray some expenses. For further information on the next trip departing St. Louis, please contact our Tour Planner and Leader Plenipotentiary, Philip Barnes, at 314.993.4040, ext. 339, email pbarnes@jburroughs.org.