Cronaca di Cagli

URBINO TRIP WOWS 'EM
STUDENTS DIG DUKE'S DIGS

GONZAGA STUDENTS were treated to a delightful class trip to the Renaissance town of Urbino on Wednesday, enjoying a visit to the Duke's Palace and a tasty pizza lunch into the bargain.

Student Emily Gagel was especially impressed by the many rooms and galleries in the palace, which dates from the 1400s and now houses many works of art. A giggly Gagel enthused over the royal digs. "The best part was the basement- it was cooooooool! It was my favorite part. I liked all the secret passageways down there. If I lived there, I would make a hot tub in the basement. Maybe I'd make a new horse trough too, but for me that basement would make a great hangout spot."

The above-ground floors similarly impressed Gagel. "They had a 'boom-boom room'!" she cried. "Did you see it? It had a big bed! Those people got nuts up in there! People didn't live as long back then, and if you only live to be 32, you better make the most of it!"

The students visited Urbino via public transit, piling on a sleek local bus whose driver navigated the many twists and turns along country roads with a practiced hand. "That bus was great compared to the buses we have in Phoenix," Gagel confided. "Those are a wild ride. But here, this one was classy. AC, wow! It was luxurious-- I could have ridden it all day."

Did the myriad twists and turns bother the students at all? "No problem for me," Gagel said with a smile. "And I ate two big sandwiches before I got on. Some students were taking dramamine by the handful- but I wasn't even queasy."

Overall, Urbino recieved top marks from the Gonzaga students. "It's neat here," Gagel concluded. "Beautiful, and lively-- lots of people walking around."

The group rounded out their trip to Urbino with a pizza lunch at hilltop restaurant Il Ragno d'Oro, where Gagel found herself at the center of a storm of controversy after accidentally eating a slice of someone else's pizza. She later made amends by buying rounds of birra rossa in the piazza.

Not everyone went to Urbino for palace tours and pizza lunches, however. Student Victoria Caswell took the opportunity of a trip to Urbino to pile a series of small pebbles on the leg of a sleeping Patrick Snyder, who was seen slumbering in the late afternoon sun near the bus stop. "It's sort of what you're supposed to do to someone who's fallen asleep," offered an unrepentant Caswell.