March’s trip to Italy, La Dolce Vita: The Sweet Life of Mythic Italy with Phil Cousineau, holds the power to transform the pilgrim in many ways. The cobbled streets, old churches, the rich food and wine, the art—Italy hosts a plethora of cultural delicacies that stir the soul and entice spiritual creativity. Moreover, Italy teaches us how to live “the sweet life,” which brings us to the first main reason our Italy journey can transform the way we live.
1. You’ll learn the ingredients for la dolce vita: “the sweet life.”
As stated in our journey description, Italy contains “the simple pleasures of walks along medieval cobbled streets, soulful conversation over cappuccinos in historic coffee shops, live music in centuries-old churches, unforgettable visits to museums and art galleries, delectable food and wine.” Italy teaches the pilgrim that, when faced with the luxuries of life, it’s the experience that counts.
We can think of the things that make up la dolce vita as “the little things in life.” While being preached messages of happiness, we’re often told that life is about these “little things.” Life is about the foam-art on our cappuccinos, the jazz player’s expression during his solo, the delicate touches of historical steps, those conversations that make the rest of the day brighter… Italy teaches us to notice these detailed delicacies with a deeper eye. That’s why people leave that place changed forever.
2. You’ll take in impressive, ancient cities.
The trip to Italy begins in Rome. There, you’ll see the Coliseum and the Roman Forum as well as the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, and the Spanish Steps.
Ancient cities are important for the pilgrim. They hold history, wisdom, and spiritual potency. And for each ancient city that still stands, there’s a reason for its preservation. Rome stands because it was the seat of an ancient, powerful, spiritually potent civilization. It was and still is one of the most influential cities in all of Western Civilization and is often called the “Eternal City” partly due to this fact.
Here are some interesting facts about Rome that are attracting millions of visitors every year.
- The city of Rome contains almost 300 fountains and exactly 900 churches.
- Hundreds of thousands of euros worth of coins are thrown into the Trevi Fountain every year.
- Before 1870, Florence was the capital of Italy. Then, Rome took the title.
- In Rome, you’ll see plenty of feral cats treated well and living in peace. By law, they’re allowed to roam freely and live off the land (and kind donations from tourists) as they please.
- According to myth, two brothers named Romulus and Remus founded the ancient empire of Rome.
- The ancient Roman road network was around 53,000 miles in total length, leading to the age-old saying “all roads lead to Rome.”
3. You’ll celebrate inspiring art that influenced history
In a recent article, we discussed the power of art and its function for the pilgrim. Our sacred trip to Italy will teach you that art was once held in higher regard than it is today. While we travel through Florence, for example, we’ll be stopping to contemplate the works of Italy’s greatest epic poet, Dante Alighieri. His infamous work, The Divine Comedy, shows that art is powerful enough to establish political or even linguistic authority for a civilization. Latin was primarily used for language and learning during the late Middle Ages.
Dante chose to compose his work in the vernacular or spoken language of the time (an earlier dialect of Italian) and helped establish the vernacular’s place in the arts. He even wrote an essay titled De Vulgari Eloquentia, “On Eloquence in the Vernacular,” which reasons that literature should be written for all of society to understand. This idea was expanded on later by Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote his famous works in Middle English vernacular.
Studying art opens the mind to the power of creativity. Works of genius can guide us to our own creative powers that are waiting to be unleashed. For many, a journey to Italy is all it takes.
4. You’ll visit divine temples
Our trip to Italy will take us to the Temple of Minerva in Assisi. The temple was built in the first century B.C. and dedicated to the Roman Goddess Minerva, goddess of wisdom, poetry, weaving, medicine, and other crafts. Her Greek equivalent is the infamous Pallas Athena.
Since its original construction in ancient times, the temple was reconstructed twice, once in the 16th century and then again in the 17th century in the baroque flavor of the era.
Visiting the temple of Minerva will add that perfect touch of sacred to our journey through Italy. Minerva is the divine embodiment of la dolce vita. She stands for the sweet life with the personification of the arts and crafts.
5. You’ll be in the hands of Phil Cousineau
Phil Cousineau is a writer, teacher, independent scholar, documentary filmmaker, travel leader, storyteller and author of over 30 books including the national best-seller The Art of Pilgrimage, The Book of Roads, and Stoking the Creative Fires, winner of the Book of the Year Award from “Spirituality & Health Magazine.” Phil is to lead us on our pilgrimage through Italy. His book, The Art of Pilgrimage, is a seeker’s guide to making travel sacred. In it, he writes that “now is the time to lead your ideal life.” In Italy, we’ll learn that la dolce vita makes up much of this “ideal life.”
Phil will be teaching us that there is a sacred aspect of travel that is worthy of our reverence and our respect. There are cultural, sacred, and artistic components of travel that we should slow down for so might we become engulfed in them rather than merely remaining outside spectators. Once we learn to view the world in this way via travel, we’ll return as beings who are able to slow down for the sweet things in life.
