Day 1 We started with an icebreaker activity: a workshop aimed at decorating tote bags with different drawings, colours, paterns and different kind of recycled fabric so as to focus on the idea of reusing and recycling. The hosting students and the guest students were involved in the activity by helping each other. The workshop lasted about two hours. After that the italian school pupils welcomed the guests with a welcome show consisting in staging plays regarding the origins and the legends of Siciliy and in performing traditional dances and songs. After the show, guest teacher and students took a tour of the main school building guided by the host students and teachers. Then they had Lunch at school and after that the whole group took a tour of Partinico, visiting the Cantina Borbonica, where a craftman showed how to build the tradintional sicilian puppets called “pupi siciliani”. During the tour teachers and students visited the monuments of Partinico and met major in the city hall.
Day 2 The second day with our foreign guests featured a visit to the Cathedral of Monreale and the city of Palermo in the Arab-Norman itinerary. In the early morning, the group of teachers and students admired the splendid Cathedral of Monreale with its magnificent mosaic and the dominant figure of Christ Pantocrator. After the visit, the students went to an artistic laboratory, where the owner described how to create mosaics. The students had been involved in creating of artistic pieces in the artistic laboratory. Afterwards, the group went to Palemo. The first stop featured the Magnificent Palatine Chapel inside the Palazzo dei Normanni. In front of such a great artistic heritagein the Arab-Norman Bizantine style, our guests were enchanged. Then tey went to the Majestic Cathedral of Palermo. Our guide told them the story of Santa Rosalia Patroness of Palermo whose rests are inside the chapel dedicated to her. After the visit our guests had lunch and tasted our typical Street Food, we headed towards the famousstreet of the historic centre: Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Via Maqueda, up to the great Teatro Massimo; we briefly dedicated to shopping and then we started again our sightseeing tour towards the port of Palermo and the Foro Italico. After this journey, our guests were able to admire the waters and the beach of the renowned Mondello…someone even got their feet wet.
Day 3 In the morning host students and guests went to a pastry lab in Balestrate where they first learned how to make typical sicilian sweets and street food and then made it themselves. Meanwhile guest teachers together with italian teachers went to Castellamare. Unfortunatly it was not possible to do the planned boat trip because of the weather, so they took a tour of Castellamare and its Craft museum which is inside the famous Castel that gives the name to the town.
Day 4 On the fourth day students and teachers went on a trip to Mozia which is a small isle in front of Marsala. On the isle they did hiking activity and visited the Whitetaker Museum which contains many Phoenician archaeological remains. Then they went back to Marsala where they visited the city center, the main Church and the Museum which houses important remains of an ancient phoenician ship.
Day 5 In the morning hosting students and guests had been divided in two groups and involved in sport match or pastry lab. So some of the students played basket or ping pong games while other students took part in a pastry lab to make typical sicilian biscuits. In particolar they made “Pupu Cu L’ovu” which is a traditional eastern pastry. After that students and teachers moved to the second building of the school to visit the “Mensa di San Giuseppe” which had been set up in the hall of the school and which is a traditional altar dedicated to Saint Joseph, enriched with lemons, oranges and special shapes of decorated bread. A special rite took place: the picture of Saint Joseph has been accompained by the sounds of drums and placed by the headmaster in the middle of the altar. This tradition is related to the feast of Saint Joseph which is on the 19th of March. Finally the students staged a goodbye show . After the show students and teachers were had their lunch at school